Andy KIRKPATRICK is Professor Emeritus at Griffith University, Australia, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and Honorary Professor at the Hong Kong Education University. As well as in Australia, he has worked in tertiary institutions in Myanmar, Hong Kong, China and Singapore (at NIE). His books include ‘Is English an Asian Language?’ (with Wang Lixun) (Cambridge University Press, 2021), ‘World Englishes: Research and Practice’ Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press (2019) and ‘Chinese Rhetoric and Writing’ (with Xu Zhichang) (Parlor Press, 2012). His most recent book is ‘The Friendship Store’, an account of his time as a postgraduate student in China in the 1970s (Graham Earnshaw 2024). He is co-editor (with A.J. Liddicoat) of The Routledge International Handbook of Language Education Policy in Asia (Routledge 2019). He currently resides in Bern, Switzerland.

Sarah MERCER is Professor of Foreign Language Teaching at the University of Graz, Austria, where she is Head of ELT methodology. Her research interests include all aspects of the psychology surrounding the foreign language learning experience. She is the author, co-author and co-editor of several books in this area including, ‘Exploring Psychology for Language Teachers’ (Winner of the IH Ben Warren Prize), ‘Teacher Wellbeing’ (ELTon Finalist), Engaging Language Learners in Contemporary Classrooms (ELTon Finalist), and Psychology in Practice (ELTon Finalist). She has also published over 150 book chapters and journal articles. She has served as Principal Investigator on several funded research projects, has worked on the editorial board of various journals, was co-editor of the journal System for several years, is co-editor of Multilingual Matters’ Psychology of Language Learning and Teaching book series, is currently president-elect of the International Association for the Psychology of Language Learning (IAPLL), is ambassador for IATEFL, and has served as a consultant on several international projects. In 2018, she was awarded the Robert C. Gardner Award for excellence in second language research by the International Association of Language and Social Psychology (IALSP).

Xiaoshi LI is an associate professor of Chinese at Michigan State University. She has been doing research in sociolinguistics, L1 and L2 Mandarin Chinese variation, Chinese language and culture, applied linguistics, and intercultural issues in second/foreign language teaching and learning. Her work on L2 Chinese under sociolinguistic variationist paradigm is pioneering. She has published extensively including an edited book on second/heritage language variation with leading sociolinguists, articles in academic journals, and book chapters. She has also received several grants and fellowships and has almost thirty years of teaching experiences in both the United States and China.

Thomas CHIU is an assistant professor of digital education at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, as well as the associate director of the centre for university and school partnership and the centre for learning sciences and technologies. He published more than 110 book chapters, conference articles, and journal papers in the fields of educational technology, psychology, and language education. He was named the top 2% most cited scientist in 2022 and 2023 in education by Stanford University. Currently, he serves as an associate editor for four international SCCI journals (3 Q1 and 1 Q2). He has collaborated with local, regional, and international scholars to win grants exceeding USD 32 million (USD 6.2 million PI/CCO-PI; 25.5 million CO-I) in external grants. Being an interdisciplinary researcher, Thomas has been collaborating with language researchers from different regions to investigate how digital technologies, including artificial intelligence chatbots and Large language models, affect language education and research.