Abu Dhabi welcomes global NLP leaders for COLING 2025
Middle East's first COLING to feature over 850 research papers
#UAE #ArtificialIntelligence – The 31st International Conference on Computational Linguistics (COLING 2025) commences inAbu Dhabi hosted by Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) tomorrow. This marks the first time that the global NLP (natural language processing) event has been held in the Middle East region, bringing together more than 1,500 attendees, 850+ papers, and the debut Arabic NLP Winter School.
SO WHAT? – Established in 1965, COLING is one of the world's most important and influential conferences for natural language processing and computational linguistics. The hosting of the first COLING biennial conference in the Middle East is a clear signal that the region’s research, talent and investment in NLP is now of significance globally. Abu Dhabi’s ability to attract and host leading research conferences such as COLING, shows that the emirates R&D strategy is paying off. COLING 2025 is also yet another accolade for MBZUAI, which is becoming a global hub for NLP and large language model research and development.
Here are some key points about COLING 2025:
COLING 2025, the 31st International Conference on Computational Linguistics (19-24 January), is being held in the Middle East for the first time, reflecting the region’s increased global relevance to the development of AI, the UAE’s growing international AI leadership and global recognition for the rapid progress achieved by Abu Dhabi’s AI R&D ecosystem.
Organised by Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) under the auspices of the International Committee on Computational Linguistics (ICCL), COLING takes place at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC).
Over 1,500 attendees from academia, industry, and startups will converge at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC).
The COLING 2025 programme includes 22 workshops, nine tutorials, keynote speeches, and 853 accepted research papers, including 22 research papers from MBZUAI students and faculty.
This year’s conference also introduces the first-ever Arabic NLP Winter School, co-organised by MBZUAI and New York University Abu Dhabi, is supported by AI development platform aiXplain.
aiXplain will also lead the Hackathon for Arabic Language (HALAL), which invites participants to innovate and collaborate on groundbreaking projects in Arabic NLP using the aiXplain development platform.
Abu Dhabi’s hosting of COLING 2025 highlights the Middle East’s emerging role in global AI discourse. The UAE is ranked fifth in Stanford HAI’s 2024 Global AI Power Rankings, while MBZUAI is recognised as a global top-10 institution for AI specialisations according to CSRankings.
Note: Although online registration is closed, onsite registration is available for last-minute attendees.
ZOOM OUT – Abu Dhabi has been successful in attracting more and more top global technology research and academic conferences in recent years. Last year the UAE capital hosted IROS 2024 (IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems) in October, and ICDM 2024 (IEEE International Conference on Data Mining) in December. Abu Dhabi’s rapid ascension in global AI research, is a direct result of strategic government-backed initiatives and significant investment in the R&D ecosystem. In a short space of time, the emirate has been able to grow the number of computational researchers, analysts and developers from mere dozens 6-7 years ago to thousands today, attracting some of the brightest minds from across the globe to work, study and research in Abu Dhabi.
LINKS
COLING 2025 (website)
Arabic NLP Winter School (details & registration)
COLING 2025 venue (ADNEC)
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