Professor Laura Justice is EHE Distinguished Professor of Educational Psychology and Executive Director of the Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy and the Schoenbaum Family Center. Justice is an expert in early cognitive development and disabilities whose research agenda focuses on enhancing the well-being and life potential of young children. Justice’s global research portfolio includes active collaborations in Denmark, Hong Kong, China, Australia, Mexico, and New Zealand. Justice has received such recognition for her research as the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering (from Pres Bush), two Fulbright Awards, and the Khalifa Award for Early Learning Research.  Justice has held visiting appointments at the University of Canterbury, University of Hong Kong, University of Zagreb, and University of Bologna. Justice has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles in top-tier journals (e.g., Child Development, Developmental Psychology, Psychological Science) and is Editor-in-Chief of Early Childhood Research Quarterly, the premier global publication on applied early childhood development and education. She has been the PI or Co-PI of more than $55,000,000 in federal research funding over the last decade, and her work is currently funded by the Spencer Foundation, Institute of Education Sciences, and National Institutes of Health.

X. Christine Wang, Ph.D., is a Professor of Early Education and Learning Sciences at the University at Buffalo (UB), where she also serves as the Senior Associate Dean for Research at the Graduate School of Education and as Director of the Fisher-Price Endowed Early Childhood Research Center. A core faculty member at UB's Institute for Learning Sciences, her primary research interests include technology and young children's learning and development, computational thinking and literacy, and early childhood education in international contexts.
Dr. Wang's research projects have been supported by NSF, Spencer Foundation, AERA and International Reading Association. Her ongoing projects include the NSF-funded "Exploring AI Literacies Framework for Young Children" and the NSF/IES-funded "National AI Institute for Exceptional Education." She recently launched "Playful AI Learning and Design Lab," which focuses on promoting responsible, effective and equitable AI learning and tool design for children (ages 4-8 age). At UB, Dr. Wang is spearheading an AI + Education Learning Community Series to explore responsible AI in education with K-12 educators, AI experts and educational researchers.
A recipient of the AERA 2007 “Jan Hawkins Award for Early Career Contributions to Humanistic Research and Scholarship in Learning Technologies,” Dr. Wang has authored over 100 academic publications, including articles in top-tiered research journals such as Early Childhood Research Quarterly, AERA Open, Early Education and Development, Journal of Research on Technology in Education, Journal of Early Childhood Literacy and Reading Psychology. She has delivered more than 40 invited or keynote presentations and over 100 conference presentations nationally and internationally. Dr. Wang is actively involved in professional organizations such as AERA, ISLS, NAYEC and ACEI. She served as the Associate Editor of Early Childhood Research Quarterly (2016-2023) and the Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Research on Childhood Education (2017-2019). Recently, she co-chaired 2024 annual meeting of ISLS. 

Professor Deng is the Dean of the Research Institute of Inclusive Education and a Distinguished Professor in the Faculty of Education at East China Normal University. He is also recognized as the Changjiang Scholar Distinguished Professor rewarded by Ministry of Education of Peoples’ Republic of China. His research interests include the theory and practice of inclusive education, the fundamental theories of special education, special education curriculum and instruction, education of children with visual impairments and education of children with developmental disabilities. He has published over 80 international academic papers, with more than 40 articles indexed by SSCI. He has also published over 200 papers in Chinese core journals, and authored or co-authored more than 20 monographs and textbooks. Professor Deng is listed by Stanford/Scopus as one of the Top 2% of highly cited scholars.
Professor Deng serves as an editor or guest reviewer for multiple SSCI international journals. He has led many significant research projects on special education at both the national and international levels. Professor Deng has been invited as a keynote speaker at over 10 major international conferences.

Professor Kenneth Sin Kuen-fung (MH) is a Research Professor in the Department of Special Education and Counselling (SEC) at The Education University of Hong Kong. He also serves as the Executive Director of the Institute of Special Needs and Inclusive Education (ISNIE) and the Executive Co-Director of the Academic for Educational Development and Innovation (AEDI). His expertise and research lie in the area of emotional disorders, learning difficulties, autism, assistive technology in special needs and professional development in inclusion. He has great consultancy experience in many local research projects as well as the training work for teachers teaching children with disabilities in Mainland China and Macau. He also successfully got a number of research projects and commissioned programs in the areas of special needs and inclusion.
Professor Sin always lead projects and organized inclusion training advancing the inclusion. He also takes part in many community activities, in relation to special needs and inclusion. He was invited to be the school council members of some special schools, members in some task groups for giftedness, inclusion, special needs and child welfare in Education Bureau, Curriculum Development Institute, Hong Kong Examination Assessment and Authority and Social Welfare Department. He is also appointed as the executive members, committee members or chairs in many NGOs for serving kids with special educational needs, persons with visual impairment, hearing impairment, intellectual disabilities, autism and behavioral difficulties.

Professor Marek Tesar is Head of School of Learning Development and Professional Practice and the Associate Dean International at the Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Auckland. He is also the director of Centre for Global Childhoods and the Chair of Early Years, Childhood Studies and Child Development Research and Teaching Hub. His award-winning scholarship is focused on early childhood education in both New Zealand as well as in cross-country contexts. His academic work and consultancy focuses on educational policy, philosophy, pedagogy, methodology and curriculum, and draws on his background as a qualified teacher. Currently, Marek serves as a leader of two leading learned societies in his fields; he chairs the Steering Committee of the Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education (RECE), and is elected President of Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia (PESA). Professor Marek Tesar is listed by Stanford/Scopus as one of the Top 2% of highly cited scholars.

Therese M. Cumming is a Professor of Special Education and Deputy Head of School Learning and Teaching of the UNSW School of Education and Academic Lead Education at the UNSW Disability Innovation Institute. Her teaching and research focus on promoting the use of evidence-based practices to support the learning and behaviour of students with disabilities and the use of technology to create inclusive, accessible, and engaging learning environments. Her publications include 3 co-authored books and a co-edited book, as well as many book chapters, journal articles and national and international conference papers. Prior to her university and research work, Terry has many years’ experience as a special educator and behaviour mentor in the United States. Her current research is focused around using mixed reality simulations to support the development of classroom management skills of pre-service teachers and creating accessible university environments to support neurodivergent students and staff.

Professor Philip Li is Chair Professor of Early Childhood Education. He previously held leadership positions as Dean of the Shanghai Institute of Early Childhood Education at Shanghai Normal University (SHNU), Program Director (Master) in the Macquarie School of Education at Macquarie University (MQ) and Program Director (MEd) of the Faculty of Education at The University of Hong Kong (HKU). He has extensive and focused research interests in the field of early childhood development and education, spanning developmental cognitive neuroscience, developmental psycholinguistics, early literacy and bilingualism, curriculum and pedagogy, educational policy, school leadership and teacher education. He has also played a significant role in early childhood education policymaking in Hong Kong and abroad. According to Google Scholar, he has a track record of 293 academic publications, including 234 journal articles, 9 books, 38 chapters and 12 conference papers. Since 2021, he has been ranked among the World’s Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University. He was recognized as Australia’s research field leader in social work (Social Sciences) by The Australian’s 2024 research magazine.

Professor Wanpeng Lei holds a Bachelor’s degree in Education and a Master’s degree in Educational Economics from Central China Normal University, as well as a Ph.D. in Philosophy (Educational Economics) from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He currently serves as a Professor and the Dean of the School of Education at Central China Normal University. Professor Lei is the Vice Chairman of the Modern Education Management Professional Committee of the China Education Development Strategy Society and the Director of the Hubei Provincial Basic Education Research Center, a key research base for Humanities and Social Sciences in Hubei Province. Additionally, he is a Standing Member of both the China Educational Economics Society and the China Education Finance Society, and serves as the President of the Hubei Provincial Educational Economics Society. In 2011, Professor Lei was selected for the Ministry of Education’s New Century Excellent Talents Support Program. He has been honored as a Model Teacher of Hubei Province and has received the Hubei Province May 1st Labor Medal. His primary research areas include educational economics and finance, educational policy research, and rural education. Since 2005, he has provided over 20 educational policy consulting reports to various organizations, including the State Council, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance, and the World Bank. His reports have focused on topics such as "Education for Left-behind Children in Rural Areas," "Education for Migrant Workers’ Children," "Development of the Rural Teacher Workforce," "Basic Education Finance," and "Layout of Compulsory Education Schools," receiving high praise in the process.