Why organize the AFLiCo conference in Liège?

The will to organize an edition of the bi-annual conference beyond the confines of France is due notably to the fact that a substantial number of researchers in the association come from Belgium. Organizing the event in the French-speaking part of Belgium will allow us to bring to light Cognitive Linguistics work carried out in various Belgian research centers while including it into research carried out in France. 

Besides having been the capital city of an independent state for more than a thousand years and the most northerly French-speaking city of the world, Liège is also well known for its Francophilia (e.g., Bastille Day is celebrated there more fervently than the Belgian National Day and the Tour de France raced across Liège more than once). It is then legitimate for the first AFLiCo conference outside France to be hosted in Liège.

Liège is also at the heart of the European megalopolis stretching from the English Channel to the Ruhr and it is in close proximity to the major cultural and economic centers: Paris, London, Amsterdam, and Cologne are a stone's throw away. Its location within a dense highway network makes it easily accessible by car. Moreover, Liège new railway station, designed by Santiago Calatrava, stands out in the first completed trans-European high-speed rail network.

In 2017 the University of Liège will be celebrating its two-hundredth anniversary. This is an ideal opportunity to host such a big event and hence to give visibility to a growing discipline.

Liège in a few snapshots (source: Welcome to Liege)