A 5-day long conference of the International Association for Ladakh Studies (IALS) concluded on May 6 at Bedlewo, Poland. The conference was started on May 2. 

The 18th IALS colloquium in Poland was organised by the Committee of Ethnological Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences - Eastern Research Commission and the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology - Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, together with Institute of Asian and African Studies Humboldt University Berlin.

More than 50 researchers including senior scholars like John Bray and Martijn Van Beek who have been working in Ladakh and the Himalayans for many decades now presented papers during the 5-day long conference.

International Association for Ladakh Studies (IALS) provides contacts between all who are interested in the study of Ladakh, and to disseminate information about proposed and completed research and publications. To do this the IALS organises conferences (usually every other year, alternatively in Europe and Ladakh), arranges publication of the proceedings, and publishes a biannual journal, "Ladakh Studies".

Meeting of the General Body of the IALS was also held at the end of the session and it was decided that next IALS conference will be organised in Ladakh in 2019.