FLC 2026 Is Changing

For many years, the Free Linguistics Conference has sought to create a space where everyone can participate in conversations about language, society, culture, education, and communication.

As FLC has grown, we have come to recognise that participation takes many forms. People present research, ask questions, offer feedback, mentor others, build connections, support projects, and help ideas grow into action. FLC 2026 is introducing a new participation model designed to recognise and support these different forms of engagement. Through the 3CA Participation Pathways, participants can contribute, confer, collaborate, and support others before, during, and after the conference.

This is our invitation to reimagine participation—and to explore what conferences might become when more people can contribute in more ways.

FLC 2026 will be hosted across Sargodha, Faisalabad, and Bahawalpur, Pakistan, bringing together scholars, educators, researchers, community practitioners, students, and allies working across linguistics, language, semiotics, education, communication, and related fields.

FLC is grounded in the principle of “a conference for everyone”: free to attend, open to diverse forms of knowledge and practice, and committed to creating meaningful opportunities for participation.

For 2026, FLC introduces the 3CA Participation Pathways: Contributor, Conferrer, Collaborator, and Ally.

These pathways invite participants to do more than present or attend. They invite people to share work, engage in dialogue, build relationships, and continue meaningful action beyond the conference itself.

Abstract Submission

UPDATED Submission Deadline: 20 June 2026
Notification of Decision: Early July 2026
Theme: All topics related to language and semiotics

Submit your abstract here:
https://www.flcgroup.net/2026-abstract/

Why FLC 2026 Is Different

Conferences are not neutral spaces. Categories such as presenter, audience, keynote speaker, expert, novice, and delegate shape who speaks, who listens, and how knowledge circulates.

FLC 2026 is exploring a different model.

Rather than treating participation as a hierarchy, FLC 2026 organises participation through pathways of contribution, conferring, collaboration, and allyship. Valuable knowledge may emerge from universities, schools, communities, workplaces, social movements, artistic practice, and everyday experience.

The goal is to build a conference infrastructure that supports:

research
contribution
dialogue
mentoring
collaboration
public scholarship
action beyond the conference

The Three FLC 2026 Events

Event A: Workshops

27–28 September 2026
University of Sargodha

The workshop event supports preparation, mentoring, project development, and community building. Workshops are designed to help participants strengthen their ideas and prepare for meaningful engagement with the wider FLC community.

Event B: Conferring

29–30 September 2026
Government College University, Faisalabad

The main conferring event brings together contributors, conferrers, collaborators, allies, focus speakers, workshop leaders, and participants. This is where research, projects, questions, and experiences are shared through dialogue, response, mentoring, and connection.

Event C: Language Travels

2–3 October 2026
The Government Sadiq College Women University, Bahawalpur

Language Travels extends the conference into lived contexts of language, culture, place, and community. It invites participants to continue thinking beyond the formal conference venue and to engage with language as a social, cultural, and embodied practice.

The 3CA Participation Pathways

Contributor

Contributors share research, ideas, projects, resources, stories, experiences, and practices that may benefit others. Contributors may participate through conference presentations, recorded talks, archive contributions, teaching resources, workshops, public-facing materials, or other forms of scholarly and community contribution.

Conferrer

Conferrers engage through listening, questioning, mentoring, responding, and helping strengthen the work of others. Conferring is not passive attendance. It is an active form of scholarly participation.

Collaborator

Collaborators join projects and initiatives that continue beyond the conference. These may include publications, teaching resources, research networks, workshops, public scholarship, community projects, or future FLC initiatives.

Ally

Allies support the FLC community and its wider mission. Allies may help through advocacy, mentoring, promotion, hosting, technical support, networking, accessibility, sponsorship, or community engagement.

What Happens After You Submit?

Submit an abstract.
Abstracts are reviewed by the Scientific Committee.
Accepted participants receive a notification of decision.
Participants are invited to engage through one or more 3CA pathways.
Participants prepare through workshops, mentoring, and pre-conference engagement.
Contributors, conferrers, collaborators, and allies take part in the conference events.

Key Dates

Activity	Date
UPDATED Submission Deadline	20 June 2026
Notification of Decision	Early July 2026
Registration Opens	July 2026
Pre-Conference Engagement Period	September 2026
Workshops (Event A)	27–28 September 2026
Conferring (Event B)	29–30 September 2026
Language Travels (Event C)	2–3 October 2026

Registration and Costs

FLC is a free conference. There are no registration fees.

FLC does not provide travel or financial sponsorship. Participants are responsible for making their own travel, visa, accommodation, and related arrangements.

Founder’s Session

Sunny-Boy (Ahmar) Mahboob — FLC Group & The University of Sydney, Australia & Pakistan

Focus Speakers

Angel (Qing) Ma — The Education University of Hong Kong, HKSAR China
Lixun Wang — The Education University of Hong Kong, HKSAR China
Sajida Zaki — NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan
Vincent Greenier — American University of Sharjah, UAE
Zubair Torwali — Idara Baraye Taleem wa Taraqi, Pakistan
Miryam Yataco — San Marcos National University, Peru

Workshop Leaders

Workshop titles and descriptions will be announced and updated as they are confirmed.

Current workshop leaders include:

Alia Aamir — University of London, UK & Pakistan
Aurelio P. Vilbar — University of the Philippines Cebu, Philippines
Dennis H. Pulido — Far Eastern University, Philippines
Miryam Yataco — San Marcos National University, Peru
Muhammad Imran — Prince Sultan University, KSA
Rizwan ul Haq — Sakarya University, Turkey
Sabria Jawhar — King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences
Sara Hilman — Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar
Silvia Pessova — Carnegie Mellon University, Qatar

Accessibility and Participation

FLC welcomes participation across institutional, community, and independent contexts. If you have accessibility needs or participation constraints, please contact the organisers and we will do our best to support participation within local capacities.

Join FLC 2026

FLC 2026 invites people who want to do more than attend a conference.

It invites people who want to contribute, confer, collaborate, and act.