Indonesia Update 2026: Dates, theme and convenors announced

The ANU Indonesia Project has confirmed the dates, theme and convenors for the 43rd annual Indonesia Update, to be held on 18–19 September 2026 at The Australian National University.  

The 2026 Indonesia Update, Islamic diversity in Indonesia, will examine the relationship between Islam and diversity in today’s Indonesia—at a time when the country’s reputation for pluralism is being tested by rising identity politics, online vilification of minorities, and shifting political and economic dynamics.

The conference will bring together leading scholars and policymakers from Australia, Indonesia and beyond to explore how diversity is understood, negotiated and contested across Indonesian society.

This year’s Update will be structured around four themes. ‘Embracing Differences’ will consider Indonesian concepts of diversity that underpin everyday coexistence. ‘Insisting on Difference’ will examine Islamic positions that identify danger and harm in difference, and their implications for minority rights, education and national policy. ‘Institutions’ will explore how organisations respond to and shape difference across civil society, the bureaucracy, politics and the private sector. ‘Mediating Difference’ will investigate digital culture, youth engagement and the ways diversity is promoted and debated in the media.

The conference will acknowledge that Islam in Indonesia is both a platform for an ethics of inclusion and a site for its contestation and will ask what this means for the country’s future.

The conference will be convened by Professor Julian Millie (Monash University) and Associate Professor Eva Nisa (ANU).

Further details, including the program and registration information, will be released in the coming months.

For more information and updates, visit: https://crawford.anu.edu.au/event/indonesia-update-islamic-diversity-indonesia