The AI and Emerging Technologies Member Community explores the dynamic intersection of leadership practices and the transformative potential of artificial intelligence and other cuttingedge technologies, examining their opportunities, challenges, and implications across sectors. This stream focuses on integrating AI and emerging technologies into leadership education, training, and development, highlighting the importance of fostering technological literacy and building a culture of informed and ethical use. Topics include navigating bias, privacy, security, and disparities; balancing the augmentation of leadership capabilities with the preservation of human-centered practices; and understanding the environmental implications of these technologies, such as energy use and sustainability. The stream examines cutting-edge research, innovative tools, and real-world case studies that demonstrate the impact of AI and emerging technologies on leadership roles, decision-making, and organizational transformation. Emphasis is placed on generative AI and its role in fostering creativity, innovation, and digital transformation while also addressing frameworks for governance, ethical policies, and practical applications in diverse contexts. This stream seeks to provide a platform for critical discourse and collaboration, equipping leaders with the knowledge and tools needed to navigate the complexities of a technology-driven world. Proposals that combine theoretical insights with actionable strategies are encouraged to help shape a sustainable, ethical, and inclusive future for leadership in an age of rapid technological advancement. Through this stream, leaders will explore how AI and emerging technologies can enhance leadership practices while positively impacting people, organizations, and the planet. Topics of interest include but are not limited to: Ethics, Innovation, Sustainability, Digital Transformation, Collaboration, Leadership Ecosystems. You will have the opportunity to list additional relevant keywords during the submission process.

Stream Leads: Dan Jenkins, Mary Tabata

The Arts & Leadership community joyfully acknowledges and embraces a multi-dimensional, fully embodied exploration of leadership research and development. We trust that engagement with the arts promotes imagination, inclusivity, adaptability, and new metaphors of perception that energize, transform, and inspire leadership and intersectional collaboration, especially relevant during volatile times of complex change. Come and share your vision, be it dance, music, multimedia presentations, poetry, storytelling, graphic imagery, theater, visual arts or any other approach that embodies your perception. We welcome all approaches to arts and leadership, especially as we encourage intersectional collaboration leading to a greater sense of belonging and leading together. Topics of interest include but are not limited to: Arts and Leadership, Arts and Social Justice, Collaborative Creativity, Multi-Dimensional Perspectives, Embodied Exploration, Leadership Research, Arts Engagement, Imagination-Inclusion-Intersectionality, Artistic Metaphors, Transformative Arts in Community, Intersectional Collaboration. You will have the opportunity to list additional relevant keywords during the submission process.

Stream Leads: Kristijan Civljak and Sionainne O’Neill

The purpose of the Business Leadership Member Community is to unite a global network of leaders and learners — business leaders, entrepreneurs, scholars, developmental practitioners, and students — to inspire, enrich and advance the practice of business leadership. transforming it into a powerful catalyst for positive change

Stream Leads: Pamela McAfee, Bidemi Ojo, Debby Flickinger, Chima Amadi

In today’s complex, diverse world it is imperative that both scholars and practitioners come together to help create a space of belonging. The focus of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) stream proposal is to provide content related to today’s issues that raise awareness related to all aspects of social advocacy and justice. The stream encourages proposals that demonstrate best practices, models, assessments, and theoretical perspectives that are emerging in the field. Topics of interest include but are not limited to: Inclusiveness and Belonging Leadership Practices, Diversity From a Global Perspective, Gender and Diversity and Inclusion, Accessibility and Neurodiversity, Social Justice and Action, Beyond DEIB, Global Diversity Challenges, Accessibility, EDI and Democracy, EDI and Citizenship, Culture and EDI, EDI Contextualized, Global EDI (Affinity Groups, ERGs, EDI for Everyone), Collective DEIB, The Role of Identity in DEIB. You will have the opportunity to list additional relevant keywords during the submission process.

Stream Leads: Joanne Barnes, Bjørn Ekelund

The Ethics and Leadership Community is a dynamic forum that explores the intersections of social responsibility, diversity and inclusion, ethical decision-making, and transformative leadership practices, fostering resilience and social justice in a rapidly changing, globalized world. Topics of interest include but are not limited to: Accessibility & Neurodiversity; AI & Technology; Architecting Change & Transformation; Civic Leadership; Civil Society; College Students; Community Leadership; Competencies; Compliance; Conflict of Interest; Corporate Governance; Corporate Social Responsibility; Creativity; Critical Leadership Studies; C-Suite; Culture & Cultural Identity; Democracy; Diversity & Inclusion; Ethical Culture; Ethical Decision-Making; Future-Ready Leadership; Futurisms; Generative Leadership Practices; Globalization; Government; Higher Education; Holistic; Human Rights/Security; Identities and ‘isms’; Individual Growth; Learning Outcomes; Leadership Development; Mentoring; Mindfulness; Mixed Methods; Morality & Virtues; Navigation; Pedagogy; Planetary Health; Policy; Political Leadership; Power Dynamics; Publishing; Primary & Secondary School; Qualitative Methods; Quantitative Methods; Regenerative; Resilience; Social Justice and Action; Stakeholder Engagement; Strategic; Sustainability; Team Growth; Training; Transparency; Values-Based Leadership; VUCA; Whistleblowing; Wise Practices; Workplace Ethics. You will have the opportunity to list additional relevant keywords during the submission process.

Stream Leads: Anneliese Vukotich, Tarab Kumar, Jeffrey Youngquist

The Followership Member Community explores the vital role of followers as active participants in the leadership process. We recognize that leadership does not exist apart from followership and that effective collaboration between leaders and followers is essential to shared purpose, ethical action, and organizational vitality. This stream welcomes scholars, practitioners, educators, and students who are advancing the study and practice of followership across diverse settings. We invite proposals that deepen understanding of how followers exercise influence, demonstrate courage, and shape collective outcomes. Topics of interest include but are not limited to: Followership Theories, Power and Influence, Collaborative Leadership, Distributed Leadership, Authentic Leadership and Followership, Ethical Leadership and Followership, Servant Leadership and Followership, Follower Engagement, Collective Leadership, Adaptive Leadership and Followership, Follower Empowerment, Followership Development, Strategic Followership, Leader-Follower Dynamics in Digital Spaces. You will have the opportunity to list additional relevant keywords during the submission process.

Stream Lead: Michael Linville

The Healthcare Leadership Member Community brings together educators, practitioners, consultants, administrators, and scholars from across healthcare settings. Our shared goal is to advance leadership and followership in healthcare through the exchange of ideas, experiences, and evidence-based practices. We provide a dynamic space to explore leadership philosophies, conceptual frameworks, curricula, assessment tools, and innovations that strengthen both individual and team capacity. Effective healthcare leadership requires not only a solid grounding in theory, but also skillful application, domain expertise, and true interdisciplinary collaboration. The Healthcare Leadership Stream at the Global Conference offers rich opportunities for learning and connection, highlighting new approaches to leadership education and awareness that ultimately improve patient outcomes and healthcare systems. Our community seeks to deepen understanding of organizational leadership and followership, uncovering pathways to meaningful and sustainable impact in healthcare. Topics of interest include: Healthcare Management, Clinical Leadership, Administration, Organizational culture, Governance, Change Management, Quality Improvement, Patient Safety, Health Equity, Workforce Development, Engagement and Resilience, Innovation and Technology, Digital Health, and Policy and Ethics.

Stream Leads: Cameron Stockdale, Tiffany Jordan

We gather in the spirit of ancestral leadership: honouring the ancestors who came before us and the generations who will follow — leadership that is cultural, relational, and grounded in responsibilities to land, community, and identity. In a world experiencing rapid change and complexity, Indigenous and First Peoples leadership offers pathways shaped by purpose, collective wellbeing, and deep relational ethics. These ways of leading hold space for resurgence, sovereignty, and self-determination, while also generating innovative and regenerative responses to complex challenges.

This stream invites contributions that explore Indigenous leadership as lived practice: emerging from Country and place, carried through story and kinship, activated through community governance, entrepreneurship, cultural knowledge, and strength-based approaches that centre the capabilities, resilience, and brilliance of Indigenous peoples. We centre leadership that is accountable to relationships; that honours cultural continuity; that navigates power with integrity; and that enacts change through reciprocity, care, and respect. These principles echo the spirit and intent of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)—affirming the inherent rights of Indigenous peoples to lead in ways grounded in culture, sovereignty, and self-determination.

Aligned with the 2026 conference themes, we welcome work that demonstrates how Indigenous worldviews expand global understandings of ethical leadership, nourish social cohesion, strengthen systems of governance, and envision regenerative futures. We also encourage explorations of relational worldviews, Indigenous innovation, land-based practices, and the transformative potential of Indigenous Futurisms.

We honour the diversity and brilliance of Indigenous nations worldwide. People of many nations and cultures, including friends-allies, are invited to gather, reflect, and share leadership knowledges grounded in cultural identity, balance, belonging, and hope.

Keywords: Indigenous leadership; First Peoples leadership; Relational worldviews; Sovereignty and self-determination; Rights of Indigenous Peoples / UNDRIP; Cultural continuity; Strength-based approaches; Land-based leadership; Indigenous governance; Kinship and community; Intergenerational leadership; Cultural identity; Indigenous innovation; Indigenous entrepreneurship; Regenerative leadership; Collective wellbeing; Relational accountability; Decolonisation; Indigenous Futurisms; Ethical leadership; Community governance.

Stream Lead: Erin Dixon (Gizhagatte), Lana Leslie

The Leadership and Coaching Member Community invites practitioners, leaders, and scholars globally to explore the profound holistic integration of systemic connections between coaching and leadership that drives whole-person growth and sustainable, meaningful impact. This stream welcomes diverse viewpoints and aims to foster connection, collaboration, and a deeper understanding of how the full spectrum of the human experience — Mind, Body, Spirit, Soul, and Community — must be embraced within coaching and leadership practices. We move beyond focusing solely on methodologies to embrace holistic principles that promote well-being, sustainability, and meaningful contributions across these disciplines. We encourage proposals that demonstrate how a holistic, system-minded approach can effectively address complex organizational and societal challenges. The stream is committed to providing equal opportunities for all and looks forward to receiving proposals that advance the intersecting fields of coaching and leadership.

Proposal topics of interest are sought on, but not limited to, the following integrated areas: Coaching for Social-Emotional Intelligence and Neurodiversity in Leadership: Exploring the relationship between emotional regulation, relational skills, and support for diverse cognitive styles (e.g., ADHD Coaching). Systemic Change and Organizational Sustainability: Examining how coaching supports innovation, entrepreneurial endeavors (e.g., Venture Coaching ), and organizational design that prioritizes long-term viability. Somatic Coaching, Trauma-Informed Approaches, and Embodied Presence: Utilizing body-based techniques (e.g., EMDR Coaching) to foster self-awareness, release systemic stress, and enhance leader presence. Mindfulness and Transpersonal Psychology: Integrating contemplative practices, spiritual perspectives (e.g., Faith-Based or Faith-Driven Coaching), and core meaning systems into authentic transformational coaching and leadership. Coaching for Holistic Self- Regulation, Well-Being, and Executive Function: Focusing on strategies for stress reduction, physical health, and mastering cognitive skills necessary for effective leadership. Values-Based Leadership, Purpose-Driven Coaching, and Integrating Spiritual Practice: Investigating how personal purpose and deeply held values drive ethical action and sustainable motivation. Energy-Based Interventions in Conflict, Team Dynamics, and Relational Coaching: Applying concepts of emotional and social energy
management to diagnose and resolve conflict and improve team performance. Coaching Leaders to Influence Stakeholders, Policy, and Impactful Communication: Exploring the leader’s role in engaging external stakeholders and utilizing communication (e.g., Public Speaking Coaching) to affect policy and systemic outcomes.

Stream Keywords: Values-Based Leadership; Holistic Integration in Practice; Systemic Change for Organizational Sustainability; Mind, Body, Spirit, Soul, and Community; Social-Emotional Intelligence Coaching; Somatic Coaching; Well-Being Coaching; Neurodiversity Coaching; Purpose-Driven Coaching; Energy-Based Interventions. You will have the opportunity to list additional relevant keywords during the submission process.

Stream Lead: Stream Leads: Dr. Joanne Vázquez de Príncipe, Dr. Simone Arnold, Eve Geiggar (Doctoral Candidate), Dr. Yolanda Caldwell

Leadership development improves both individual and collective leadership capabilities through activities such as training, workshops, experiential learning, resilience, self-care, mindfulness, coaching, and mentoring. The objective of this stream is to empower individuals and groups to guide themselves and others toward specific achievable goals that may change over time. The Leadership Development Member Community welcomes practitioners, scholars, teachers, students, coaches, trainers, and others who cultivate leadership knowledge and skills in themselves and others. We also welcome those who give voice to others from around the world. Topics of interest include but are not limited to: Development, Training, Communication, Collaboration, Empowerment, Facilitation, Global Voices. You will have the opportunity to list additional relevant keywords during the submission process.

Stream Leads: Brian Redmond, Deirdre Dixon

The Leadership Education stream is interested in sessions that serve leadership educators, professors, and teachers working in and/or interested in curricular or co-curricular programs in higher education institutions as well as primary and secondary (k-12) schools and other educational settings. We seek opportunities to share curricula, pedagogies, programs, and research to advance the how, what, and why of leadership education. Topics of interest include but are not limited to: Accessibility and Neurodiversity, Change & Transformation, Pedagogy, Andragogy and Adult Learning, Innovation & Creativity, Emerging Theories and Practice in Leadership, Artificial Intelligence, Mixed Methods, Qualitative Methods, Quantitative Methods, Training, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Uncertainty and Volatility, Virtue Formation. You will have the opportunity to list additional relevant keywords during the submission process.

Stream Leads: Elizabeth Goryunova, Kyle Small

The Leadership for Peace Member Community seeks researchers, educators, practitioners, and others who care about peace — in the mind and body, community, and in the world. Our aim is to draw thinkers and doers to focus on peace, peacebuilding, and developing, explaining, and educating for a culture of peace. Our hope is to increase the conditions for justice, tolerance, acceptance, hope and understanding anywhere and everywhere and for positive change in individuals, groups, organizations, and governments that lead to freedom from oppression, conflict and war, and aggression, through dialogue, action plans, research, practice, teaching, and learning. Topics of interest include but are not limited to: Peace leadership, Peace education, Peace-building, Conflict resolution, Reconciliation, Peace Followership, Peace operations, Activism, Dialogue, Social Responsibility, Rule of Law. You will have the opportunity to list additional relevant keywords during the submission process.

Stream Leads: Whitney McIntyre Miller, Lazarina Topuzova

The Leadership Scholarship Stream offers a home for scholars across disciplines, from aspiring researchers to seasoned academics. It accepts research from multiple methodological traditions (e.g., qualitative, quantitative) and encourages innovative methodological practices. Further, it embraces theoretical and conceptual development and explores critical perspectives in leadership studies. The stream also offers a home for the professional and personal development of scholars, such as grant writing, interdisciplinary connections, publishing in journals, crafting book proposals, and transforming dissertations into articles. Ultimately, the stream aims to democratize access to high-quality scholarship, nurturing collaboration and advancing leadership research globally. Topics of interest include but are not limited to: Leadership Scholarship, Leadership Theory, Quantitative Leadership Research, Qualitative Leadership Research, and Mixed-methods Leadership Research.

Stream Leads: Brandon Kliewer, L.J. McElravy, Erald Ilac

The Military/Uniformed Services Leadership (MUSL) Community encompasses a broad range of leader[ship] related to training, education, development, programs, research, workshops, walking tours, policies, strategies, insights, solutions, and dynamics involving our military and uniformed services. The objective of this stream is to connect scholars, leaders, practitioners, Veterans, and others with the aim to unite individuals from around the world who are passionate about exploring the intersections of military/uniformed services and leadership. The MUSL Community welcomes scholars, practitioners, teachers, students, coaches, trainers, and especially those who wear or are associated with our military and uniformed services involved in leader and leadership.

MUSL is interested in: 1) Facilitating meaningful conversations/collaborations about leadership related to military/uniformed services across different cultures and contexts; 2) Bringing together and bridging leaders, scholars, and practitioners from across the military leadership network of partners, allies, alliances, academies, and schools; 3) Exploring the intersections and strategies for building stronger connections and service; and 4) Discussing our future by sharing ideas about the future character of leadership and the attributes that will be needed for a better, greater future. Topics of interest include but are not limited to: AI & Emerging Technologies, Digital Transformation, Competencies & Skills, Educating & Training, Power Dynamics, and VUCA. You will have the opportunity to list additional relevant keywords during the submission process. 

Stream Leads: Deirdre Dixon, John Hinck, Sarah von Felton, Jim Barge.

This stream and ILA member community promote an understanding of the healthy nexuses between leadership and philosophy, religion, and worldviews. Philosophy, religion, and worldviews touch the very core of human experience and address assumptions people make about life. These assumptions structure people’s leadership theories and practices. Evaluating leadership theories and practices at the most basic level will generate greater insights into the intersection of leadership with culture. We encourage philosophers and religious leaders to actively participate as a means to hone their leadership skills for use in their respective spheres of influence and to provide corresponding insights
to others.

Stream Leads: Troy Hinrichs, John Shoup, Lisa Friesen

The Public Leadership stream addresses a wide range of issues in the public realm extend beyond a single sector and across national boundaries. Issues in the public realm may include climate change, health crises, inequality, poverty, violence, and many more. How do public leaders and their organizations address complex problems and achieve the common good? How can we create collective and relational leadership approaches that bring diverse groups and organizations together, so we can effectively work in a sustained way across boundaries and differences? How can elected and appointed officials, government employees and citizens practice democratic leadership? How can nonprofit boards and staff lead effectively? We welcome examples of new teaching methods, research, and practice in public leadership, including policy change, community organizing, and cross-sector collaboration. We encourage you to collaborate with one another, and across streams and geographic regions. Topics of interest include but are not limited to: Administrative Public Leadership, Public Sector Leadership, Nonprofit Organizational Leadership, Health Care Leadership, Grassroots Leadership, Military Leadership. You will have the opportunity to list additional relevant keywords during the submission process.

Stream Leads: Lucas Diaz, Joel Domingo, Ariel Kaufman, Keyhan Shams

The Sustainability Leadership Member Community are seeking proposals designed to expand practices, contribute knowledge and insight, and engage around leadership that precipitates a more just, sustainable, and regenerative future for the planet. We recognize the deep and interconnected social and environmental challenges that pervade our world, and we seek sessions in which we as leadership scholars, educators, and practitioners can better understand and equip ourselves to address these challenges. Topics of interest include but are not limited to: Sustainability, Systems Change, Environment, Justice. You will have the opportunity to list additional relevant keywords during the submission process.

Stream Leads: Kate Sheridan, William Smedick

This stream explores the vital intersection of trust, leadership, and followership across diverse global contexts. Aligned with the conference’s ongoing commitment to advancing innovative leadership theories and practices, it welcomes proposals that examine the dynamics of trust as a foundational element of effective leadership and followership. Building on recent explorations within the Trust & Leadership Community, this stream also invites contributions that expand the conversation to include trust as a process of sensemaking, the historical roots of trust and collaboration, and the ways in which leaders can overcome barriers or “immunity” to trust in themselves, their organizations, and their communities. We encourage proposals that explore both theoretical frameworks and practical strategies for building, maintaining, and restoring trust within leadership and followership relationships across various settings — including organizational, civic, educational, and community leadership. Key questions addressed in this stream include: How does trust influence leadership and followership effectiveness across cultures and sectors? How does trust shape collective sensemaking and shared decision-making? What strategies promote trust-based leadership and followership practices in the face of global challenges? How can leaders and followers restore or rebuild trust following conflict or failure? How do historical, cultural, and systemic contexts shape the evolution of trust in leadership? What inner or organizational barriers inhibit trust — and how can they be overcome? The goal of this stream is to foster collaboration among scholars, practitioners, trainers, and coaches, enriching the collective understanding of trust in leadership and followership. By bringing together diverse perspectives, we aim to generate actionable insights that strengthen global leadership and followership practices grounded in trust, integrity, and authentic connection. Topics of interest include but are not limited to: Trust Dynamics, Restorative Leadership, Collective Sensemaking, Historical Perspectives on Trust, Overcoming Immunity to Trust, Collaborative Governance, Ethics and Integrity, Relationship Building, Followership, and Trust-Based Team Dynamics. Additional relevant keywords may be listed during the submission process.

Stream Lead: Forthcoming

The Women in Leadership 2026 stream welcomes proposals for dynamic sessions that explore the evolving experiences and challenges faced by women leaders across diverse industries, sectors, and communities. We seek contributions that foster critical dialogue, amplify a variety of perspectives, and inspire actionable change for a more equitable future. Key areas of interest include philosophical and cultural perspectives on gender and leadership, the intersectionality of identities, and the impact of societal norms on women’s leadership journeys. Proposals may examine pathways for supporting women at all career stages, such as mentorship, networking, youth engagement, and lifelong learning, as well as highlight strategies for wellness, work-life balance, and mental health. The stream also invites proposals addressing adversity and complexity, including experiences of discrimination, bias, and microaggressions, particularly as they relate to race, ethnicity, and other intersecting identities. We are especially interested in research and practices involving women’s leadership in STEM and traditionally male-dominated fields, as well as the implications of technological advancements — like artificial intelligence and remote work — on women’s access to and success in leadership roles. Other emerging topics include women’s roles in climate action and sustainability, entrepreneurship and innovation, global and transnational leadership, and models for allyship and shared leadership with men. Additional areas of focus include the impact of policy and legislative initiatives such as gender quotas, media representation and the shaping of leadership narratives, and the vital role women play in leading through crisis, whether in public health, conflict, or humanitarian contexts. We also encourage proposals that bridge generational perspectives and nurture young women leaders through intergenerational learning. Sessions may take the form of panels, workshops, roundtables, lightning talks, case studies, or interactive discussions.

Stream Leads: Heidi Marshall