News Detail
20th Asia-Pacific Conference on Giftedness (APCG 2028)
20th Asia-Pacific Conference on Giftedness (APCG 2028)
Future-Proof Minds: Crafting the Gifted for Unseen Challenges
10–14 April 2028 · Dubai World Trade Centre · Dubai, United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates will host the 20th Asia-Pacific Conference on Giftedness from 10 to 14 April 2028 at the Dubai World Trade Centre. The conference is organised by the Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation for Medical and Educational Sciences in partnership with the Asia-Pacific Federation on Giftedness, and marks the second occasion on which the Foundation welcomes the APCG community to Dubai, sixteen years after it hosted the 12th conference in the same city in 2012.
Under the theme Future-Proof Minds: Crafting the Gifted for Unseen Challenges, APCG 2028 will bring together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers from across the Asia-Pacific region and beyond to examine how learners of exceptional ability can be prepared for a future that cannot yet be fully seen. The programme will explore how gifted individuals can lead with confidence and adaptability, how education can keep pace with technological transformation while nurturing creativity, and how partnerships across sectors can enable gifted learners to realise their full potential. Over five days, more than two thousand delegates are expected to engage with keynote addresses, symposia, round tables, peer-reviewed paper sessions, poster presentations, pre-conference workshops, and an international exhibition.
A distinctive feature of the conference is a Youth Summit running across all five days in parallel with the main programme. Three hundred gifted students aged 12 to 15 will take part in challenge-based learning, mentoring, and creative collaboration. The Summit gives young people a structured voice within the conference and offers delegates direct insight into how the next generation of gifted learners thinks, questions, and creates.
The host, the Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation for Medical and Educational Sciences, is a Dubai-based institution dedicated to advancing excellence in education and medicine. Its story begins with two awards founded by the late Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai (at that time): an award for outstanding academic performance launched in 1998 and an award for medical sciences launched in 1999, both created to recognise excellence and innovation, to discover and nurture talented individuals, and to strengthen scientific research. What began as a local initiative soon grew far beyond the Emirates, working with UNESCO, ICESCO, ALECSO, the Arab Bureau of Education for the Gulf States, the Fab Lab Foundation, and leading universities, before evolving into a fully fledged foundation for education in 2018 and, in 2023, into a single institution uniting its educational and medical missions. Central to that mission is the Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Centre for Giftedness and Innovation, established in 2015, which identifies gifted students and nurtures them through enrichment programmes, competitions, international university partnerships, and the country’s first Fab Lab. The Centre also hosts the World Giftedness Center and Global Talent Mentoring, two international initiatives connecting gifted young people and researchers across the world.
The Dubai World Trade Centre, the venue for the conference, is the region’s largest purpose-built events complex, located in the heart of Dubai with direct metro access and an extensive choice of hotels within walking distance. Plenary sessions, the opening and closing ceremonies, and the Youth Summit will be held in Sheikh Rashid Hall, with parallel sessions across the venue’s dedicated meeting room suites. Dubai International Airport is served by direct flights from more than 260 destinations, placing the conference within easy reach of every APFG member country.
The conference is led by a High Steering Committee chaired by H.E. Dr. Khalifa Ali Al Suwaidi, Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation. Ms. Khawla Ahmed Behlooq, Assistant Chief Executive Officer for the Excellence Sector, serves as Conference Chair of the Organising Committee, and Dr. Mariam Ali AlGhawi, Director of the Hamdan Centre for Giftedness and Innovation, serves as General Coordinator and Chair of the Youth Summit. Nine committees support the conference: Scientific; Finance; Media and Publishing; Logistics and Venue; Public Relations; Youth Summit; Sponsorship; IT; and Exhibition and Events. Further information will be published as the programme develops, and the host looks forward to welcoming the APFG community to Dubai in April 2028.
Future-Proof Minds: Crafting the Gifted for Unseen Challenges
10–14 April 2028 · Dubai World Trade Centre · Dubai, United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates will host the 20th Asia-Pacific Conference on Giftedness from 10 to 14 April 2028 at the Dubai World Trade Centre. The conference is organised by the Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation for Medical and Educational Sciences in partnership with the Asia-Pacific Federation on Giftedness, and marks the second occasion on which the Foundation welcomes the APCG community to Dubai, sixteen years after it hosted the 12th conference in the same city in 2012.
Under the theme Future-Proof Minds: Crafting the Gifted for Unseen Challenges, APCG 2028 will bring together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers from across the Asia-Pacific region and beyond to examine how learners of exceptional ability can be prepared for a future that cannot yet be fully seen. The programme will explore how gifted individuals can lead with confidence and adaptability, how education can keep pace with technological transformation while nurturing creativity, and how partnerships across sectors can enable gifted learners to realise their full potential. Over five days, more than two thousand delegates are expected to engage with keynote addresses, symposia, round tables, peer-reviewed paper sessions, poster presentations, pre-conference workshops, and an international exhibition.
A distinctive feature of the conference is a Youth Summit running across all five days in parallel with the main programme. Three hundred gifted students aged 12 to 15 will take part in challenge-based learning, mentoring, and creative collaboration. The Summit gives young people a structured voice within the conference and offers delegates direct insight into how the next generation of gifted learners thinks, questions, and creates.
The host, the Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation for Medical and Educational Sciences, is a Dubai-based institution dedicated to advancing excellence in education and medicine. Its story begins with two awards founded by the late Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai (at that time): an award for outstanding academic performance launched in 1998 and an award for medical sciences launched in 1999, both created to recognise excellence and innovation, to discover and nurture talented individuals, and to strengthen scientific research. What began as a local initiative soon grew far beyond the Emirates, working with UNESCO, ICESCO, ALECSO, the Arab Bureau of Education for the Gulf States, the Fab Lab Foundation, and leading universities, before evolving into a fully fledged foundation for education in 2018 and, in 2023, into a single institution uniting its educational and medical missions. Central to that mission is the Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Centre for Giftedness and Innovation, established in 2015, which identifies gifted students and nurtures them through enrichment programmes, competitions, international university partnerships, and the country’s first Fab Lab. The Centre also hosts the World Giftedness Center and Global Talent Mentoring, two international initiatives connecting gifted young people and researchers across the world.
The Dubai World Trade Centre, the venue for the conference, is the region’s largest purpose-built events complex, located in the heart of Dubai with direct metro access and an extensive choice of hotels within walking distance. Plenary sessions, the opening and closing ceremonies, and the Youth Summit will be held in Sheikh Rashid Hall, with parallel sessions across the venue’s dedicated meeting room suites. Dubai International Airport is served by direct flights from more than 260 destinations, placing the conference within easy reach of every APFG member country.
The conference is led by a High Steering Committee chaired by H.E. Dr. Khalifa Ali Al Suwaidi, Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation. Ms. Khawla Ahmed Behlooq, Assistant Chief Executive Officer for the Excellence Sector, serves as Conference Chair of the Organising Committee, and Dr. Mariam Ali AlGhawi, Director of the Hamdan Centre for Giftedness and Innovation, serves as General Coordinator and Chair of the Youth Summit. Nine committees support the conference: Scientific; Finance; Media and Publishing; Logistics and Venue; Public Relations; Youth Summit; Sponsorship; IT; and Exhibition and Events. Further information will be published as the programme develops, and the host looks forward to welcoming the APFG community to Dubai in April 2028.