*Registration open to public by 11/12/2023 23:59(HKT)*

The Covid-19 pandemic is not a crisis on its own, but a trigger for social, political, and economic crises that exacerbated, among other things, nationalism and tribalism and possibly, the process of deglobalisation, a movement towards a less connected world and rigid border controls. In this talk, I reflect on the challenges and opportunities that the pandemic has brought to the language and intercultural communication research. Specifically, I focus on the semiotic communicative repertories and politics of cultural differences.  I propose a conceptual framework that embraces open language, open communication, and open culture as fundamental principles. By promoting openness in intercultural communication research, we can strengthen our collective capacity to build a resilient and empathetic world.

Zhu Hua is Professor of Language Learning and Intercultural Communication, Director of International Centre for Intercultural Studies at the Institute of Education, University College London (UCL), UK and Director of Research and Innovation for the Language Hubs programme funded by Department for Education, UK. She is an elected Fellow of Academy of Social Sciences, UK and Fellow and Elected Board member of the International Academy for Intercultural Research. She is Chair of British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL) since 2021. Her main research interests span across multilingual and intercultural communication and child language. She is book series co-editor for Routledge Studies in Language and Intercultural Communication; Cambridge Key Topics in Applied Linguistics; and Cambridge Elements in Applied Linguistics. She served as an Education sub-panel member, UK REF 2021 and an Education panel member, Hong Kong UGC Research Assessment Exercises (RAE) 2020.

For enquiries, please contact the School of English (email: english@hku.hk; phone: 3917 2754).