At our 2025 Regional Meeting, we announced the winners of our Student Paper Award competitions

Aneri Patel from the University of Toronto won our Undergraduate Student Paper Award for her paper titled "Reimagining Sacred Space: The Kashi Vishwanath Corridor and the Mediation of Pilgrimage"

Shashank Rao from the University of Toronto  won our Graduate Student Paper Award for his paper titled "Hindu Studies in the Time of Hindu Nationalism."

Please join us in congratulating our two winners, and thank you to all of the students who submitted fantastic papers this year!

The administration of York University (Toronto, Canada) recently announced that they are suspending admissions to the Religious Studies program. This is devastating news, especially as suspending admissions can lead to much more drastic steps being taken, including closing programs.

We at the EIR firmly believe that the study of religion is an integral component of higher education, which gives students valuable training in a range of areas. This includes skills which are valuable in the professional world, as well as perspectives which help students become well-informed citizens of a global community. The action of suspending admissions, at one of Canada’s largest universities, is a gravely concerning development. To express our disappointment with this decision, the EIR has submitted a letter to the York University administration.

Faculty members of the Religious Studies Program at York have produced a letter to university administration. The letter can be read in full here. We encourage all of our members to read this letter, which highlights both the value of this program, as well as the unreasonable actions of the administration. The last paragraph of this letter calls for others to stand in solidarity and respond to York’s decision, and includes information on where to address letters of protest or support. The EIR encourages all of our members to offer whatever support they are able to in solidarity with our colleagues at York.

The EIR has an open call for nominations for Regional Leadership.

The EIR is pleased to announce the results of our virtual election. Marzia Alteno from the Université de Montréal will be joining the executive as our next Student Director! Members and students in the region can look forward to connecting with Marzia and the rest of the EIR Executive over the next year!

If you’re planning to attend the upcoming EIR Annual Meeting at U of T (May 2-4), make sure to check out the Graduate Student Workshop. Happening Thursday May 2 from 4:30-5:30 in the Jackman Humanities Building (JHB 318), join us as we explore Religious Studies Beyond the Discipline: A Roundtable Discussion.

We are happy to share that the preliminary program for our upcoming conference at the University of Toronto is now available!

Registration for the 2024 EIR Regional Meeting is officially open!

Join us May 2-4 at the University of Toronto. Centred on the theme Sea Change: Religion, Cosmology, Environment, the conference will feature a keynote address from Dr. Hillary Kaell (McGill University) as well as a series of presentations from scholars and students from across the region.

Stay tuned to this page for information about the conference as we get closer to event!

We would like to thank everyone who submitted a proposal for our upcoming conference! We are thrilled with the number of great proposals that we received, and are excited about the conversations that will take place.

Our team is currently reviewing proposals, and we hope to communicate the results to all applicants by mid-March. 

If you have any questions in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The EIR is thrilled to announce the theme of our 2024 Regional Meeting! Join us from May 2-4