Creating Infrastructure that Strengthens the Quality and Impact of Educational Research

As educational research teams strive for greater scale, broader partnerships, and more timely, actionable insights, robust infrastructure has become essential to today’s state-of-the-art projects and initiatives. In AI education, this encompasses benchmarks, datasets, and domain-specific models; in educational data mining and learning analytics, it includes secure data access, privacy frameworks, and cross-industry testing environments. Crucially, this infrastructure is socio-technical—requiring data governance, privacy protections, and security policies alongside technical capabilities. This interactive session brings together international panelists to offer their perspective on these systems in their country and region. Through panel discussion and audience Q&A, we will explore: Why is infrastructure critical now? What frameworks or advances are most urgently needed so that our research can be more impactful? How can researchers effectively collaborate with educators, policymakers, industry and internationally? Ultimately, if these efforts succeed, what impacts will a Festival of Learning celebrate five years from now that it cannot celebrate today?