A virtual conference jointly organised by the London Centre for Business and Entrepreneurship Research(LCBER), LSBU Business School and the Society for Intercultural Education, Training, and Research (SIETAR, UK)

Remote working and intercultural collaboration are two of the core challenges in a digital and globalised economy for employees, leaders, customers, trainers and students alike. The Covid19 pandemic has only sped up developments that were already well under way, and forecasts show that a majority of the workforce is likely to continue working remotely and adopt so-called ‘hybrid’ work models. At the same time, both a globalised market and the opportunities of digital media mean that many businesses and organisations have a multicultural workforce and client base.

In this timely conference, we bring together experts from both academia and practice to address the interface of intercultural collaboration and virtual work and to discuss the challenges and opportunities for research, training, and business practice. We want to reap the best of both worlds and support the mutual knowledge transfer across the business and academic communities that both LCBER and SIETAR represent.

From an academic perspective, Professor Karin S. Moser, Director of the London Centre for Business and Entrepreneurship Research (LCBER) and Professor of Organisational Behaviour at LSBU Business School, will give an opening keynote about current research on remote working and intercultural cooperation and provide research insights into what works, what doesn’t and why, based on her own and others’ research in virtual work and intercultural cooperation. This is followed by a research presentation on virtual teams and intercultural collaboration in teaching and education by Dr May Tungtakanpoung, Lecturer in Organisational Behaviour and an expert in Intercultural Management, LSBU Business School.

From a practitioner perspective, Adrian Pilbeam, an expert in international communication from LTS Training &  Consulting, will share his experiences of working in an international virtual team. Our second practitioner presentation focusses on how to build relationships and trust in a virtual and multicultural work context, by Seiji Nakano, Operational Manager & Learning Engineer, and Gabriela Weglowska, Learning Solutions Designer & Marketing Executive, both from WorldWork: Learning for Global Success.