From November 5 to 7, 2025, the 4th "Asian Education Doctoral Students' Institute (AEDSI)" was held in Shanghai. Under the theme "Navigating Your Doctoral Journey in the Era of AI"， this year's AEDSI was structured around three core modules—Community, Creativity and Career—featuring seven keynote speeches, two roundtable forums, four sub-forums, one editorial symposium, and a corporate visit.The event served as a platform for participants to jointly chart a path for doctoral students' academic and professional development in the AI era.
Lauched in 2019 by East China Normal University’s (ECNU) Faculty of Education under the Global Education Deans’ Forum (GEDF) framework, the GEDF Global Doctoral Student Forum evolved in 2022 into the Asian Education Doctoral Student Institute (AEDSI). A joint effort with The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK). Rooted in Asia with a global vision, AEDSI is now steered by ECNU’s newly established College of Global Educational Leadership, which hosted this year’s forum—building on past foundations while charting future directions. The institute continues to innovate doctoral training and foster cross-disciplinary dialogue and knowledge creation.
Although Asia-focused in name, 2025 AEDSI drew substantial interest from other continents, bringing together doctoral students across time zones. In total, 388 education doctoral students from 80 universities across 23 countries took part. Participants from mainland China included studentsfrom Fudan University, Tongji University, Zhejiang University, Nanjing University, Beijing Normal University, Southwest University, Central China Normal University, South China Normal University, among others.Thosefrom Hong Kong and Macau came from institutions such as the University of Hong Kong, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the University of Macau. International doctoral students primarily came from universities such as the University of Cambridge, University College London, University of Glasgow, RMIT University, University of Canberra, University of Auckland, University of Warsaw, and Nanyang Technological University.
