The Association of Pacific Studies (Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Pazifische Studien [Aachen] e.V., APSA) was founded as inter-disciplinary academic network at the Department of Geograpy of the Technical University Aachen / Germany back in 1987.
The first chairman of the APSA was Dr Werner Kreisel (*1944), a Professor of Human Geography, who upheld this position until 2007.
The main reason for the establisment of the APSA was the common interest in the countries of the Asian-Pacific Region. At the beginning, a particular regional focus was laid upon the Pacific island states which later enlarged to East Asia and Southeast Asia.
So far, various activities have been initiated such the implementation of workshops, conferences, public lecture series or poster exhibitions. To sustain these efforts a books series Pazifik Forum was initiated in 1990. In 1992, this was complemented by the publication of the semi-annual peer-reviewed journal Pacific Geographies (ISSN Print: 2196-1468; ISSN Online: 2199-9104). The latter has developed into a major activity of APSA in recent years.
Above all, the APSA sees its role as one the most important science-based networks in Germany for people who are fascinated by the Asian-Pacific region and are interested in academic exchange.