The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK), in collaboration with the Institute of Education (IOE), University College London (UCL), would like to announce the Winter Conference on Leadership in Language and Culture: Trust, Truth, and Well-being in the Digital Sphere, taking place on 1 December 2026. This conference marks the third EdUHK-IOE joint colloquium and will examine the critical intersections of language, culture, and leadership, exploring how these dimensions interplay to foster trust, truth, and well-being in education within an increasingly interconnected and digitally mediated world.

In today’s globalised and digitally mediated landscape, language and culture play a pivotal role in redefining the parameters of trust, truth, and well-being. As advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) fundamentally transform intercultural communication (Dai & Zhu, 2024), leadership in education must address both the opportunities and ethical boundaries of technology. It is critical to provide youths with the proper guidance needed to develop digital trans-literacies in relation to their self-concept clarity and well-being in digital spheres (Gu et al., 2025). This also requires understanding the legal, affective, and policy dimensions of the AI ecosystem to protect teacher well-being (Stockwell, 2026), alongside implementing training that ensures university students use Generative AI effectively and appropriately in academic writing (McKinley, 2026). Moreover, establishing truth and trust demands critical examinations of power dynamics. Critical discussions on the ideological and political-economic dimensions of global English (O’Regan, 2021) challenge prevailing assumptions about linguistic hegemony, power, and leadership. Meanwhile, positioning translanguaging (Li, 2018) as an epistemic and decolonial act through the lens of transknowledging serves to facilitate knowledge production in multilingual contexts (Song & Lin, 2026). Amidst these shifts, language use serves as a vital tool for empowering marginalised and migrant communities through human communication, empathy, and resilience that AI cannot replace (Ladegaard, 2025). Ultimately, in reaction to these complex challenges, values-based educational frameworks (Lee et al., 2023) offer actionable strategies, emphasizing the crucial role of language and culture in fostering sustainable, inclusive, and future-ready leadership practices.

Through a series of keynote speeches — supplemented by a flash conference session— participants will engage with forward-looking studies and perspectives that bridge theory and practice in the digital age. The conference will serve as a dynamic platform for critical dialogue that transcends disciplinary, cultural, and technological boundaries to tackle pressing issues in our time, offering insights for fostering well-being and resilience across diverse educational contexts.

By focusing on the transformative potential of language, culture, and leadership, we invite scholars, educators, and leaders committed to navigating the digital sphere with empathy, inclusivity, and integrity to join this unique collaborative gathering. Together, we will explore how language and culture can serve as powerful catalysts for transformative leadership, driving meaningful change toward a more secure, connected, and equitable world.

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