On behalf of the Korean Society of Nursing Science, it is my great privilege to invite you to the 2026 International Nursing Conference, convening under the theme “Nursing Intelligence in the AI Era: Strategic Empowerment of Research, Education, and Practice,” on October 19–20, 2026, in Seoul, Korea.

Artificial intelligence is reshaping the structure and delivery of health care with unprecedented speed and scope. Clinical decision support, AI-driven diagnostics, and intelligent care platforms are rapidly becoming embedded in the environments where nurses work, learn, and lead. Yet the trajectory of this transformation is not predetermined. It is the disciplinary wisdom, ethical judgment, and relational intelligence of nursing—precisely those capacities that resist algorithmic reduction—that will determine whether these technologies genuinely serve patients, families, and communities. “Nursing Intelligence” is therefore a disciplinary imperative: a call to assert our profession’s epistemic authority and to ensure that nurses are not passive end-users, but active architects of how AI systems are designed, evaluated, and governed.

The conference program has been intentionally structured around three interlocking pillars, each targeting a dimension of nursing intelligence the AI era demands we strengthen. In research, our sessions interrogate how nursing science can generate the rigorous, scientific evidence responsible AI development requires. In education, our symposia examine how curricula must be reimagined to cultivate AI literacy, ethical reasoning, and digital competency in the next generation of nurses. In practice, our presentations explore how AI-informed advances can be embedded equitably into clinical settings, ensuring innovation translates into improved outcomes across diverse populations. Keynote addresses, curated symposia, oral and poster sessions, and a dedicated early-career researcher track are each organized to advance dialogue across these three domains—ensuring that this conference functions not merely as a forum for knowledge exchange, but as a catalyst for the strategic empowerment our profession demands.

I extend my profound gratitude to the scientific and organizing committees, our eight academic member societies, institutional partners, and every author, reviewer, and volunteer whose commitment to nursing scholarship has made this program possible.

As we gather at this intersection of nursing knowledge and technological possibility, I invite each of you to engage with intellectual rigor, speak with candor, and collaborate with generosity. It is our collective intelligence—human, disciplinary, and now augmented—that will determine nursing’s contribution to global health. We look forward to building that future together, here in Seoul.