diff --git a/plugin-designs/big-picture/big-picture.vue b/plugin-designs/big-picture/big-picture.vue
index ef0c694a7..a5f68dfa7 100644
--- a/plugin-designs/big-picture/big-picture.vue
+++ b/plugin-designs/big-picture/big-picture.vue
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ const accent  = computed(() => config.value.accent || '#8b5cf6')
 // `title` still wins — that is what the config key is for — but an absent one now resolves through
 // the catalogue rather than through a literal. The English wording is unchanged: this is the
 // shepherd's standing rule that translating EXISTING wording is not a product decision.
-const heading = computed(() => config.value.title || tStatic('dashboard.bp_title') || 'Big Picture — Unified Research Dashboard')
+
 // ★ THE LOCALE THE HOST ASKED FOR, AND THE ONE ELEMENT ON THE PAGE THAT CAN ACT ON IT.
 // MEASURED with check:host-locale-contract: this leaf drew 0 Arabic characters for
 // profile-config {"locale":"ar"} against 273 for the same page reached with ?lang=ar. Its siblings
@@ -86,6 +86,17 @@ const hostLang = computed(() => {
 })
 watchEffect(() => { if (hostLang.value) setRuntimeLocale(hostLang.value) })
 
+// ★ THE LOCALE IS PASSED, NOT ASSUMED, AND THAT IS WHAT KEEPS THIS LIVE. tStatic resolves through
+// getRuntimeLocale() at CALL time, but a computed only calls again when a REACTIVE dependency changes —
+// and config.value does not change when the host switches language. So this heading resolved once and
+// stayed in the boot language while everything around it moved (upg100 measured it; check:frozen-labels
+// catches the shape). hostLang IS reactive, so reading it both re-runs this computed and tells tStatic
+// which catalogue to read. useI18n is not an option here: this bundle installs no i18n (index.js), which
+// is why the whole element reads through tStatic in the first place.
+const heading = computed(() => config.value.title
+  || tStatic('dashboard.bp_title', hostLang.value || undefined)
+  || 'Big Picture — Unified Research Dashboard')
+
 // ★ RTL IS A DIRECTION, NOT A TRANSLATION — the half this element was still missing.
 // Its three sibling composites (dashboard-plus-grid, research-map-plus-grid) and the grid itself all
 // reflect `dir` onto their custom-element host; this one did not, so a host asking for Arabic got
diff --git a/plugin-designs/research-dashboard/src/components/dashboards/DashboardResearchFilters.vue b/plugin-designs/research-dashboard/src/components/dashboards/DashboardResearchFilters.vue
index dbb94b992..9a307e195 100644
--- a/plugin-designs/research-dashboard/src/components/dashboards/DashboardResearchFilters.vue
+++ b/plugin-designs/research-dashboard/src/components/dashboards/DashboardResearchFilters.vue
@@ -36,12 +36,14 @@
  * mapped to this dashboard's facet keys). Nothing here is dashboard-specific beyond that map.
  */
 import { inject, computed } from 'vue'
+import { useI18n } from 'vue-i18n'
 import { tStatic } from '@map/i18n/index.js'
 import { useShadowStyles } from '@map/composables/useShadowStyles.js'
 import SearchFilterHeader from '@map/components/search/SearchFilterHeader.vue'
 import { getPrayerLevel, LABELS as PRAYER_LABELS } from '@map/colors/prayer-progress.js'
 import { useTreeLegendLabels } from '../../composables/useTreeLegendLabels.js'
 
+const { locale } = useI18n()
 const bus = inject('selectionBus', null)
 const dash = inject('dashboardData', null)
 const cfg = inject('dashboardConfig', {})
@@ -205,7 +207,12 @@ const activeChips = computed(() => {
   // in code would get both wrong even with a translated word. It was simply never wired, so ten
   // locales rendered an English label beside localized facet chips. tStatic takes no params, so
   // {term} is filled here rather than by the catalogue.
-  if (term) out.push({ name: '__search__', label: (tStatic('dashboard.search_live') || 'Search: {term}').replace('{term}', term) })
+  // ★ locale.value is READ so this computed re-runs on a language switch, and PASSED so tStatic reads
+  // the catalogue the reader just chose. Without it the chip resolved once and stayed in the boot
+  // language beside chips that had moved — a frozen label, which check:frozen-labels now catches.
+  // research-dashboard installs i18n (index.js:83), so useI18n resolves here; big-picture does not,
+  // which is why its sibling fix pins the locale from hostLang instead.
+  if (term) out.push({ name: '__search__', label: (tStatic('dashboard.search_live', locale.value) || 'Search: {term}').replace('{term}', term) })
   return out
 })