“Nan Lin Graduate Student Paper Award” was originally called “Graduate Student Paper Award”, used to reward young scholars engaging in innovative research on Chinese societies. 

Dr. Nan Lin is Oscar L. Tang Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Duke University.  As a world-renowned and highly respected sociologist, he has published substantive seminal work and mentored multiple generations of scholars in and beyond the research field of Chinese societies for about five decades.  He especially played a vital role in the rebirth of sociology in China in the late 1970s, and has made significant contributions to the development of sociology in the Greater China region.  

Dr. Nan Lin is also the founder and the inaugural President of the North American Chinese Sociologists Association (NACSA) from 1981 to 1990, which was renamed as the International Chinese Sociological Association (ICSA) in spring 2018.  The Board of ICSA unanimously approved to rename the “Graduate Student Paper Award” as the “Nan Lin Graduate Student Paper Award” in spring 2018.  The rationale for this change is to recognize Nan’s pioneer and significant contributions to the association and to the research area on Chinese societies, and to inspire the research endeavors of future generations of young scholars working on Chinese societies.  

Annually the ICSA Graduate Student Paper Award Committee selects one graduate student paper and announces the award at the dinner of the ICSA annual conference.  The ICSA Nan Lin Graduate Student Paper Award will be used to recognize and reward emerging young scholars in the study of Chinese societies.