Read the summary blog from the convenors of this theme:

Systems Thinking: Final reflections from conveners of UKFIET 2025 conference theme

Webinar

A webinar series followed the UKFIET September 2025 conference. These one-hour sessions on each of the seven conference sub-themes aim to give a flavour of discussions and amplify sparks ignited at the conference.

Convenors:

  • Mathilde Nicolai, Cambridge Education
  • Yifei Yan, University of Southampton

Panellists:

  • Maha Shuayb, Centre for Lebanese studies 
  • Olha Homonchuk, ODI Global
  • Rishi Rajvanish, Room to Read
  • Liveness Mwale, Ministry of Education, Malawi

Mathilde Nicolai introduces the webinar, with the aim of reflecting on key issues that came up during the conference. One of the key discussions was around making partnerships work – both state and non-state – so this webinar focuses around that theme. A couple of key messages are: Systems thinking matters. We need to work together with and through the system, which requires a rethinking of donor-state relationships to reposition national education systems at the centre.

The second key message is that meaningful partnerships are key to embed solutions into national education systems. Different discussions during the conference highlighted power imbalances. Yet there were still great examples of partnership success stories and how to embed solutions into national systems and sustain them.

There are still big questions relating to the systemic denial of education for millions of children. How do we position ourselves in this landscape? Discussions on aid and how to respond in a more agile way have raised more questions than answers.

Rishi Rajvanish presents a success story of scaling up from an NGO in India.

Maha Shuayb discusses the impact of aid on education governance in Lebanon, from a historical perspective.

Liveness Mwale presents a success story for scaling up the mass reforms by the Ministry of Education in Malawi.

Olha Homonchuk presents her research on national education budgets – where they come from and how they are used. Olha shared the link to her paper: An Overview: Education Research in Conflict and Protracted Crisis (ERICC)

Yifei Yan leads the discussion section and asks questions from the audience to the panellists, including about the role of parents and how can they be more incorporated as a partner.