More than 100 participants from all over the world filled the Wei Hing Theatre on 10 July for the opening ceremony of the Eighth International Conference on Language and Social Psychology (ICLASP).

Hosted by CityU, the conference -- which runs from 10 July to 14 July -- will see 110 presentations from 16 different countries. This represents the first time the ICLASP conference has been held in Asia.

In his speech at the conference opening, Professor Matthew Chen, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Chair Professor in the Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics, thanked everyone for attending and said he was struck by the varied and interesting content that would be presented during the conference.

"I would certainly like to drop in and listen to some of the talks," said Professor Chen. "Language is far more than just the nuts and bolts of communication."

In an interview prior to the conference opening, Professor Ng Sik Hung, Head and Chair Professor of the Department of Applied Social Studies and one of three principal organizers of the event, stressed the importance of holding the conference in Hong Kong. "Hong Kong is an ideal place in which to hold the conference," he said. "The importance of language is very significant here."

Previous ICLASP conferences were held in the UK, the US, Australia, Germany, and Canada. Although he couldn't attend the conference because he is out of the country, President H K Chang sent a message to the conference attendees, welcoming them to CityU and urging them to share ideas.

"The study of language and social psychology, being so closely inter-linked, will benefit from cross-disciplinary collaborations that I believe will continue to thrive under the leading influence of this Conference," he said.