Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) will host the 31st International Conference on Computational Linguistics (COLING 2025), which is organised under the auspices of the International Committee on Computational Linguistics (ICCL), at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) from 19th to 24th January 2025.

COLING is one of the premier conferences for natural language processing (NLP) and artificial intelligence (AI). In 2025, the conference will take place in Abu Dhabi and the MENA region for the first time and will bring together key leaders from the NLP and AI communities.

The conference will feature a main conference, workshops, tutorials, and other events. The main conference will include keynote talks, oral and poster presentations, and panel discussions.

COLING 2025 is the second top-tier conference on NLP and AI to take place in Abu Dhabi, after the 2022 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing (EMNLP), which was organised by NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), in partnership with MBZUAI.

Professor Preslav Nakov, professor and chair of the NLP department at MBZUAI and the local committee chair, said, "We are thrilled to host COLING 2025 in Abu Dhabi, marking a milestone for the region's involvement in cutting-edge NLP research. This conference brings together the brightest minds in AI and NLP, creating an unparalleled opportunity for dialogue and innovation.

"As language technology continues to redefine the way humans interact with machines, we are looking forward to exploring how these advancements can be leveraged to solve regional and global challenges—from healthcare and education to business and beyond."

Professor Timothy Baldwin, provost and professor of NLP at MBZUAI, stated, "COLING 2025 is a dynamic platform for showcasing Abu Dhabi's growing leadership in AI, especially in natural language processing. MBZUAI's mission is to address the region's unique linguistic landscape, from dialectal Arabic to multilingual challenges while advancing the global frontiers of AI research."

With a total of 1,500 expected to partake in the conference, COLING 2025 will feature nine tutorials and 22 workshops, as well as the First Winter School on Arabic Natural Language Processing and Computational Linguistics (CL), a two-day event designed to advance knowledge and skills in Arabic NLP and CL research and development and to foster interdisciplinary exchange and networking among students, academics and industry professionals in the field.

Professor Nizar Habash, from NYUAD and MBZUAI, part of the local organising committee and organiser of the Winter School on Arabic NLP/CL commented, "The programme of the Winter School will include expert-led tutorials and lectures, hands-on workshops, and poster sessions featuring ongoing research and project proposals in the fields of Arabic NLP and CL."

First established in 1965, the biennial COLING conference has been held in diverse parts of the globe and attracts participants from top-ranked research centres and emerging countries.