Author: Center for Intercultural Dialogue

Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz, the Director of the Center for Intercultural Dialogue, manages this website.

CMM Institute Webinar: What if We Didn’t Have to Agree? Preserving Relationships While Communicating Across Differences

EventsCoordinated Management of Meaning Institute Webinar: What if We Didn’t Have to Agree? Preserving Relationships While Communicating Across Differences, 10 December 2025, 11 am Eastern US Time (UTC-5).(Online).

In the middle of a holiday season, many dread the seemingly inescapable arguments, hurt feelings, and tension that can arise. With this in mind, Ilene Wasserman and Arthur Jensen will share creative, relational approaches to navigating conversations with loved ones about potentially polarizing and divisive topics. Together, with webinar participants, they will explore possibilities for finding coordination even without coherence.

In communication, each moment is a chance to practice curiosity and compassion- two foundational elements for the continued co-creation of better social worlds. Now, more than ever, each of us must understand our own ability and responsibility to act mindfully into our relationships.

In preparation for the webinar, they invite you to reflect on recent conversations with friends and family members where disagreement occurred. Please consider the following: (1) Where did the conversation start? (2) What did the conversation feel like? and (3) Where did the conversation end?

CID Poster 4: Types of Cultural Communication Translated into German

CID PostersThis poster was designed by Linda J. de Wit, and published previously; it now has been translated into German. This one clarifies the differences between intercultural, intracultural, cross-cultural, and international communication.

The German translation was provided by Maria Faust, and the graphic design work necessary to revise was by Yan Qiu. Here then is CID Poster 4: Typen interkultureller Kommunikation.

 

Center for Intercultural Dialogue poster 4 translated into German

Just in case anyone wants to cite this poster, the following would be the recommended format:

Center for Intercultural Dialogue. (2025). Typen interkultureller Kommunikation [M. Faust, trans.]. CID Posters, 4. Available from:
https://centerforinterculturaldialogue.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/cid-poster-4-german.jpg

As with other series, CID Posters are available for free on the site; just click on the thumbnail to download a printable version. They may be downloaded, printed, and shared as is, without changes, without cost, so long as there is acknowledgment of the source.

As with other CID Publications, if you wish to contribute an original contribution, please send an email before starting any work to receive approval, to minimize inadvertent duplication, and to learn about technical requirements. As is the case any series, posters should be created initially in English. If you want to volunteer to translate a poster into a language in which you are fluent, send in a note before starting, to receive approval and to confirm no one else is working on the same one.

Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz
Director, Center for Intercultural Dialogue
intercult.dialogue AT gmail.com

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Tohoku U: Center for Northeast Asian Studies (Japan)

“JobProfessor or Associate Professor in Interethnic Relations and Conflict Studies, Center for Northeast Asian Studies, Tohoku University, Japan. Deadline: Open until filled; posted 1 November 2025.

The Center for Northeast Asian Studies, established in 1996 as an independent research institute inside Tohoku University, aims to create interdisciplinary knowledge that contributes to solving cross-border environmental issues under cooperative globalization. In response to the changing global socio-political landscape, the Center established a new Department of Geopolitical Studies, founded upon the principles of interdisciplinarity, inter- and trans-regionality, and creative collaboration. Bringing together scholars from around the world, the Center is dedicated to integration – of research within and outside of Japan, of scholarship on and of the expertise of Northeast Asian studies – as a driving force for the development of Geopolitical Studies and as a roadmap for its future.

As part of this new initiative, the Center seeks to appoint a distinguished scholar in the Division of Interethnic Relations and Conflict Studies, Department of Geopolitical Studies. The ideal candidate will have a strong record of research on conflict and confrontation, as well as on the institutions that shape them, with particular attention to Russia, East Asia, and Japan. A demonstrated commitment to international collaboration is essential. The position also emphasizes the ability to lead the planning and organization of international conferences and seminars that connect scholars at Tohoku University, across Japan, and worldwide. They are especially interested in candidates who can situate their work within broader debates on geopolitical change and its social consequences, including the experiences of minority groups, and who can demonstrate excellence in building and coordinating international research networks

U Nottingham Ningbo: Applied Linguistics (China)

“JobAssistant Professor of Applied Linguistics, University of Nottingham in Ningbo, China. Deadline: 12 December 2025.

The School of Education and English is looking for an ambitious, talented, and experienced academic with a passion for teaching and a well-developed research profile to join its team of scholars in the field of Applied Linguistics. The successful candidate will be expected to contribute to teaching, curriculum development and supervision within the undergraduate English and Applied Linguistics and the MA in Applied Linguistics programmes, as well as providing wider supervision for a growing numbers of PhD/EdD students. The successful candidate will also be expected to take a lead role in collaborative research projects, as well as conducting original research of their own that results in presentations and publications of a high international standing in relevant and recognised areas of applied linguistics.

UN Young Professionals Programme 2025-26

Professional OpportunitiesUnited Nations Young Professionals Programme, New York, USA. Deadline: 14 December 2025.

The UN Young Professionals Programme (YPP) is a recruitment initiative for talented, highly qualified professionals to start a career as an international civil servant with the UN Secretariat. It consists of an entrance examination process and professional development once those who are successful start their career with the UN.

The YPP examination is held once a year in different subject areas, depending on the needs of the UN. Global Communication is the subject area for this year’s YPP examination.

Participating countries:
Andorra, Angola, Belize, Brunei Darussalam, China, Cuba, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Germany, Grenada, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Israel, Japan, Kiribati, Kuwait, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Monaco, Nauru, Oman, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Qatar, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Vanuatu, Viet Nam.

Eligibility Criteria:
* Nationality of a participating Member State
* Bachelor’s degree or at least a 3-year equivalent degree relevant for the exam area
* 32 years of age or younger (born on or after 1 Jan. 1993)
* Fluency in English or French

Who Needs Intercultural Education? Deep Culture Podcast from Japan Intercultural Institute (Japan)

PodcastsWho Needs Intercultural Education? Japan Intercultural Institute, Tokyo, Japan.

Joseph Shaules and Ishita Ray argue that the deeper goal of intercultural education is to see that our minds are shaped by culture. They explore natural biases, such as ethnocentrism and stereotypes, and the psychological impact of foreign experiences, including Oz moments and cultural shock. Emre Seven tells of his discovery that not everyone sees the world as he does.

Deep Culture Podcast explores the psychological impact of intercultural experiences, informed by the sciences of brain, culture and mind. They look at the personal growth that can come from—travel, working and living abroad, immigrating, learning a foreign language—and the challenges of bridging different cultural worlds. Other episodes available here.

 

CFP LRI Workshop for Early-Career Researchers: Oral Communication and Plurilingualism (Italy)

ConferencesCall for papers: 8th LRI Workshop for Early-Career Researchers: Oral Communication and Plurilingualism, Merano, Italy, 11-12 June 2026. Submission deadline: 15 January 2026; extended to 1 February..

The Linguistic Colloquium Language, Region, Identity aims to foster scientific exchanges within the Alpine region and beyond. It is specifically targeted at early career researchers (PhD students and post-docs). The colloquia, jointly organised by a team from six universities and research centres in Austria, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, intend to offer a forum for discussing current and recently concluded projects. The biennial editions are organised around three keywords: language, region and identity.

Each Linguistic Colloquium workshop has a specific topic of interest. The 8th edition will address topics related to oral communication and plurilingualism. In contexts characterised by territorial multilingualism and/or increasing levels of linguistic diversity, language manifests itself as a complex dialogical process involving multiple resources – registers, varieties, and discourses – which speakers select to engage in processes of meaning-making, identity negotiation, and to act upon their realities.

With this in mind, organizers welcome contributions that deal with orality and spoken language, focusing in particular on oral communication in connection with:
• communicative acts within a specific genre of private or institutional communication, e.g., family talk, communication at school and university, with public authorities, medical practitioners, etc.;
• the linguistic features of spoken language from a phonetic-phonological, lexical, morphological, syntactical, pragmatic, or interactional point of view; this may also include the contrast between different languages and varieties or between spoken and written languages;
• the teaching and learning of oral competences in formal and informal contexts;
• the positioning of speakers from a sociolinguistic or variational linguistic perspective;
• translanguaging and mediation practices among plurilingual speakers in private or institutional settings;
• oral communication and spoken language in experiences of mobility and migration;
• methodological, epistemological and/or ontological challenges in research on oral communication and spoken language.

Different languages and varieties in the Alpine region will provide the focal points of the workshop; however, the workshop is also open to related topics and projects, including overarching dimensions such as language ideologies and Artificial Intelligence in connection with spoken language and orality.

US-Japan Leadership Program 2026/27 (Japan/USA)

FellowshipsCall for applications: US-Japan Leadership Program (USJLP). Deadline: 5 January 2026.

USJLP is the flagship program of the United States-Japan Foundation. It launched in 2000 with the purpose of developing a network of communication, friendship and understanding among the next generation of leaders in each country.  With the goal of bridging the gap between East and West, the Program fosters a continuing dialogue among future leaders in a broad variety of professions. It starts this process by bringing some young leaders together from each country for two intensive weeklong conferences over two years, with discussions revolving around historical and current issues in bilateral relations, as well as issues reaching beyond our two countries. Through serious conversation as well as recreation and shared cultural activities it seeks to nurture lifelong friendships. The Program is designed to keep the leaders in touch with each other throughout their careers through a dedicated website and member directory, frequent reunions and newsletters, and online social networks.

Candidates for USJLP must:

🔹Hold U.S. or Japanese citizenship.
🔹Start their first Conference between the ages of 28 and 42.
🔹Have demonstrated leadership in their respective field.
🔹Feel comfortable expressing themselves in English.
🔹Commit to attending two consecutive seven-day Conferences over two summers and hold interest in lifelong engagement with USJLP.

Skylar Jeffries Profile

Profiles

Skylar Jeffries  graduated from New York University with a B.A. in Linguistics and Italian and an M.A. in Multilingual Multicultural Studies with dual certification in TESOL and Teaching Italian. During her graduate studies, she pursued international coursework and research in the Dominican Republic, Hong Kong, and mainland China, focusing on intercultural perspectives in teaching and learning.

Skylar JeffriesShe is currently Regional Director of Northeast School Partnerships for the High School Global Navigator Programs at CIEE (Council on International Educational Exchange), an international exchange nonprofit, where she builds collaborations with schools, districts, and educators to expand access to academically aligned study abroad programming for high school students. In this role, she works with schools from New Jersey to Maine to share programs for students and professional development opportunities for educators. She oversees more than $9M annually in scholarship funds stewarded by CIEE which make study abroad opportunities accessible to thousands of high school students.

Skylar served on the board of the New York City and Westchester chapter of the American Association of Teachers of Italian (AATI) from 2018-2025 and was Interim President from 2023-2025. Within the association, she organizes professional development, community engagement, and institutional collaborations for its members.

Previously, Skylar was an Italian and English teacher in the NYC Department of Education, where she also served as a teacher mentor and department lead, securing significant funding to support AP Italian at High School for Environmental Studies in Manhattan. Her earlier professional experience includes career advising at New York University’s Wasserman Center for Career Development, where she supported students in developing skills to enter into and succeed in global, multicultural professional environments.

Work for CID:

Skylar Jeffries was recently interviewed by Casey Man Kong Lum, Associate Director of the Center; the result will be published shortly.

Northeastern U: Associate Director of Global Student Success (USA)

“JobAssociate Director, Global Student Success, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA. Deadline: open until filled; posted 13 November 2025.

With supervision from the Director of Global Student Success, the Associate Director (AD) is responsible for the successful delivery of a significant portfolio of Northeastern signature cohort-based programs for first-year students, such as the first-semester-abroad N.U.in Program and the first-year-away New York City Scholars program, and contributes to the management of programs in Northeastern’s Global Network. The AD will directly supervise a team of Student Success Managers and may also supervise an Assistant Director. The AD designs and implements program goals with a special emphasis on student services, crisis management, student support, health and safety, staff training, staff professional development, and program execution. The AD is accountable for the day-to-day operations of their assigned sites and proactive collaboration with the Global Experiential Office, Student Life staff, Human Resources and other departments across Northeastern University. The AD rotates as part of an on-call emergency triage team throughout the academic year, responding to emergencies and serving as the first point of escalation, including outside of office hours. They may act as the Director’s representative during periods of Director’s absence or unavailability.

The AD is expected to travel domestically and internationally to conduct trainings and site visits. This position can be based in Boston but is not required to be based in Boston (though must reside in the US and possess a valid US passport), with extensive travel to provide oversight of program staff and sites. A hybrid work schedule is possible for Boston-based staff.