Dear Colleagues,
It is my pleasure to invite you to join us in Ghana for the International Group Relations Conference 2027 — The Past Alive in the Present: Authority, Leadership, and the Future We Create.
We are living through a period of profound uncertainty and transformation. Across the world, institutions are facing unprecedented challenges. Communities are grappling with questions of identity and belonging. Organisations are struggling to respond to increasing complexity, social division and rapid change. At the same time, long‑suppressed conversations about history, injustice, memory, reparations and collective responsibility are demanding our attention.
In many ways, the past is no longer content to remain in the past.
Historical experiences continue to shape how individuals, groups, organisations and societies understand authority, exercise leadership and imagine their futures. The legacies of colonialism, enslavement, displacement, conflict, inequality and collective trauma continue to live within our institutions and relationships — often in ways that are not immediately visible.
As leaders, consultants, scholars, practitioners, policymakers and citizens, we are increasingly confronted with a difficult question:
How do we create a different future if we do not understand the forces from the past that continue to shape the present?
This conference has been designed as a space for exploration, learning, reflection and dialogue around that question. Bringing together participants from diverse professions, disciplines, cultures and countries, we will examine the relationship between history, authority, leadership and systemic transformation. Through academic presentations, experiential learning, professional exchange and a facilitated journey to sites of profound historical significance in Cape Coast and Elmina, we will explore how the past continues to influence contemporary organisational and societal life.
Ghana offers a particularly meaningful setting for this work. Its history connects local and global narratives of leadership, resistance, independence, memory and renewal. It provides an opportunity to engage not only intellectually but also emotionally and experientially with questions that affect organisations and societies across the world.
This conference is not simply about understanding history. It is about understanding ourselves, our organisations and the systems we inhabit. It is about strengthening our capacity to lead thoughtfully in complex environments, to recognise hidden dynamics that shape behaviour and decision‑making, and to engage more effectively with the challenges facing our institutions and communities.
Whether you are an executive, consultant, academic, policymaker, community leader, practitioner or student of organisational life, I believe this conference offers a unique opportunity for learning and growth.
I warmly invite you to join us in Ghana as we explore together the enduring relationship between the past, the present and the future we seek to create. I look forward to welcoming you.
Augustine SagoeConference Director · International Group Relations Conference, Ghana 2027
