The ASEFNextEd Fellowship Leaders’ Meeting marks the official launch of the Fellowship and brings together eight education Leaders (four from Asia and four from Europe) who will guide the whitepaper co-creation process throughout the programme.

Selected from the wider pool of invited Fellows, these Leaders will coordinate the work of a team of five to six Fellows, providing intellectual leadership and coordination during the independent whitepaper drafting phase of the Fellowship (see below).

Over the three-day meeting in Cambridge, these Leaders will collectively refine the overarching inquiry framework, align on thematic directions, and agree on shared standards for quality, collaboration, and policy relevance. The meeting also serves to synchronise timelines, roles, and working methods, ensuring coherence across teams while allowing space for diverse perspectives and approaches.

By establishing a strong foundation of shared purpose, trust, and cross-regional leadership, the Leads’ Meeting enables a coordinated yet flexible process for producing high-quality, policy-relevant whitepapers that contribute to renewing teacher education across Asia and Europe.

The Fellowship begins with a facilitated peer-learning and dialogue phase, creating a shared foundation for inquiry. This phase establishes trust, shared language, and intellectual coherence across the Fellowship. During this phase, Fellows engage in structured conversations to:

• Develop a shared conceptual understanding of “intelligence” in the context of education, moving beyond purely technical interpretations
• Exchange regional, cultural, and institutional perspectives on the trends reshaping teacher education
• Identify common challenges and priorities, and form interdisciplinary, cross-regional whitepaper teams around emerging themes

By the end of the Peer-to-Peer Learning & Dialogue Phase, Fellows will have:

A shared and nuanced understanding of “Re-thinking Intelligence” in the context of AI-influenced and sustainability-driven education systems

• Established trust, shared language, and agreed principles for constructive dialogue and peer feedback
• Clearly defined inquiry themes and well-formed, cross-regional whitepaper teams with aligned focus and ways of working

This foundation ensures that subsequent collaboration is deep, coherent, and policy-relevant, rather than fragmented or solution-driven too early.

Building on the insights generated during the Peer-Learning & Dialogue Phase, the White-Paper Co-Creation Phase constitutes the core knowledge-production component of the Fellowship.

What are the ASEFNextEd1 Whitepapers?

The ASEFNextEd whitepapers are collaborative, evidence-informed outputs developed by cross-regional teams of teacher educators, researchers, and academics. Each whitepaper examines a priority subtopic under the theme “Re-thinking Intelligence: The Future of Teacher Education,” with the aim of informing institutional leadership, shaping teacher education practice, and contributing to regional and international policy dialogue on teacher education.

What is the Co-creation Process?

During this independent phase, Fellows collaborate in cross-regional and interdisciplinary teams of 4-5, each led by a Fellowship Leader. Each team will address a specific subtopic withing the overarching Fellowship theme: “Re-thinking Intelligence: The Future of Teacher Education”. Each whitepaper is developed through iterative inquiry, collaborative writing, and peer feedback, and is guided by a designated team lead. Rather than following a prescriptive model, teams engage in an iterative, problem-driven process, allowing ideas, questions, and policy-relevant insights to emerge through collaboration, peer feedback, and reflection. Fellowship Leads play a facilitative and intellectual leadership role, ensuring conceptual coherence, policy relevance, and progress, while maintaining the collective ownership of the whitepaper among all team members.

Who are the Target Audiences of the Whitepapers?

The whitepapers are designed with a two-tier audience approach, ensuring both institutional relevance and policy resonance across Asia and Europe:

1.  Institutional Leaders in Teacher Education: The primary audience of the whitepapers includes senior leaders within teacher education institutions, such as Deans, Vice-Chancellors, Heads of Faculties of Education, and leaders of teacher training institutions. The whitepapers aim to support these leaders in:

• Reflecting on how teacher education programmes must evolve in AI-influenced and sustainability-driven education systems
• Informing institutional strategy, curriculum renewal, leadership development, and professional standards
• Strengthening human-centred, ethical, and future-oriented approaches to teacher educatiom

2.  Policy Stakeholders and Public Authorities: As a secondary audience, each whitepaper will conclude with a short set of high-level, accessible recommendations relevant to Ministries of Education, government bodies, and policy stakeholders. These recommendations will:

• Be limited in numbers (3-5 max), focused and framed at a strategic level
• Focus on interregional relevance and shared challenges across Asia and Europe
• Highlight broad policy considerations rather than detailed national prescriptions

This two-tier approach ensures that the whitepapers remain grounded in institutional practice, while also contributing meaningfully to regional and international policy dialogue on the future of teacher education.

What topics are discussed in the Whitepapers?

Building directly on the topic framework described above, the ASEFNextEd1 whitepapers address key dimensions of “Re-thinking Intelligence: The Future of Teacher Education”, including but not limited to:

• Human-centred intelligence and professional judgement
• Evolving roles of teachers and teacher educators in AI-supported learning environments
• Ethics, agency, and professional responsibility in data-driven education systems
• Wellbeing, sustainability, and the green transition in education
• Cultural and contextual perspectives on intelligence across Asia and Europe

Together, these whitepapers translate the Fellowship’s conceptual focus into policy-relevant, practice-oriented insights, supporting institutional leaders and policymakers in navigating the future of teacher education across Asia and Europe.

A Peer-to-Peer Feedback Session in the midst of this phase will bring all white paper teams together in a facilitated, learning-oriented dialogue to review progress, exchange perspectives, strengthen arguments, and refine their drafts through collective reflection before presenting them at the Conference.

The 4-5 days long (tbc) on-site conference brings Fellows together to consolidate learning and translate collaborative inquiry into actionable insights. During the conference, Fellows will:

• Present and critically reflect on their draft whitepapers
• Engage in structured peer feedback and policy-oriented dialogue
• Refine and finalise their collective outputs through exchange with peers and invited experts
• Connect with a broader ecosystem of education leaders, researchers, and innovators

The conference will be organised by the United Nations University Macau (UNU Macau), creating opportunities for wider international engagement and situating the Fellowship within global discussions on education, intelligence, and sustainability.

Please note: Invitation to the conference is conditional for fellows based on active engagement, meaningful peer contributions, and strong progress on the joint publication during the virtual phase.

After the Conference there will also be an opportunity for Knowledge Dissemination & Policy Dialogue. Following the Fellowship, outcomes will be disseminated through ASEF and partner platforms, regional and international education fora, and targeted policy-oriented communication outputs. Depending on scope and relevance, a follow-up publication or edited volume may be developed to further extend the impact of the Fellowship’s collective work and support ongoing policy dialogue.