Language Policy, Bilingualism and Bilingual Education: Shaping the Future

Since 2018, the UNED Language and Society Research Group has organised a series of biennial international conferences that have become a consolidated forum for scholarly debate on bilingualism and bilingual education. Building on previous editions that explored bilingualism and interculturality (2018), the relationship between bilingualism and migration (2020), the interplay between bilingualism, bilingual education, and their social contexts (2022), and how bilingualism and bilingual education intersect with political tensions and conflict (2024), BiUNED 2026 focuses on the role of past, present, and future language policies in shaping bilingualism and bilingual education worldwide. In contemporary societies, bilingualism and multilingualism are no longer marginal phenomena. Global mobility, internationalised labour markets, digital communication, and rapid technological development, particularly artificial intelligence (AI) and data-driven technologies, are profoundly transforming how languages are learned, used, governed, and valued. These transformations affect not only educational practices but also research methodologies, assessment models, and language policy design. At the same time, language policies continue to generate tensions linked to ideology, identity, equity, linguistic rights, and access to education, which remain central concerns in European and international policy agendas. Aligned with key priorities of the European Union, Horizon Europe, the European Education Area, and UNESCO, BiUNED 2026 aims to provide an international platform for critical, interdisciplinary, and forward-looking research on the intersections between language policy, bilingualism, and bilingual education across time, with particular attention to the impact of digital innovation and artificial intelligence on multilingual societies, educational systems, and governance frameworks.

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