Highlights from the 2025 AEE & BELL Event: A Journey in Experiential Learning

Dr Kearrin Sims, Director of Impact at Infuse Travel, shares his highlights from the 2025 AEE and Bauhinia Experiential Learning Limited (BELL) Asia-Pacific Region Conference, held at The Independent Schools Foundation (ISF) Academy in Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong.

The 2025 AEE and BELL Conference provided numerous opportunities for learning and connection. Here I’d like to share some highlights, key takeaways, and a topic I would have liked to see explored in greater depth.

Conference Highlights

1. Seamless Organisation

With over 200 attendees and more than 30 workshops, the conference was a seamless and well-organized experience. The ISF Academy provided an exceptional venue, complemented by excellent food and a welcoming, attentive support team. A special shout-out to May and Zac, whose guidance made navigating the ISF’s corridors effortless. The conference gift pack was the best I’ve ever received, and I especially appreciated the thoughtful inclusion of unstructured time for networking and informal discussions.

2. Diverse Themes and Expert Speakers

The conference covered all the essential themes in experiential education, from service-learning and outdoor education to risk management, child safety, and social-emotional learning. The keynote speakers brought a perfect blend of theory and practice, delivering insightful and engaging presentations that left attendees with valuable, actionable takeaways.

3. Confucian Principles of Service-Learning

For me, one of the most interesting discussions was BELL’s General Manager, Mr Simon Joyce’s, presentation on how the ISF Academy grounds its service-learning activities in Confucian principles. Given the common critique that international experiential education can reinforce colonial worldviews and Eurocentrism, it was refreshing to hear a perspective that centres philosophical traditions from the Asia-Pacific region in service-learning approaches. This aligns closely with Infuse Travel’s commitment to designing programs that move beyond Western-centric models of experiential learning.

4. Meaningful Connections

The conference provided excellent opportunities to meet educators, academics, outdoor education and service-learning providers, school counsellors, and international development practitioners. I connected with attendees from Thailand, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Australia, the Netherlands, Mainland China, and beyond. The atmosphere at the conference encouraged genuine conversations and meaningful connections, making it a great space to explore potential partnerships.

5. Student Wushu Presentation

If I had to pick a single highlight, this would be it! The students’ Wushu performance was incredibly impressive, and it was fantastic to see students not just as attendees but as an integral part of the event. Their skills and dedication added an inspiring element to the conference.

6. Cathryn Berger Kaye’s Service-Learning Workshops

I spent most of my time attending Cathryn Berger Kaye’s workshops, and I’m so glad I did. Cathryn is an outstanding educator, and her highly interactive sessions were both engaging and energising. By the end of each day, I was exhausted from participating, yet I never once caught myself yawning or reaching for my phone—something that has never happened to me at a multi-day conference before!

Key Takeaways

The conference provided valuable insights into areas of experiential education beyond my usual focus. Keynote speakers Dr David Marsden, Dr Clare Dallat, and Tim Gerrish offered compelling perspectives on community-building in outdoor education, risk transparency, and child safeguarding.

For me, however, the most thought-provoking discussions revolved around service-learning. Cathryn’s breakdown of her Five Stages of Service Learning—Investigation, Preparation, Action, Reflection, and Demonstration—offered new ways to refine Infuse Travel’s pre- and post-departure learning modules. Additionally, her emphasis on asset-based approaches to community-driven service-learning was particularly encouraging. Too often, service-learning frames low-income communities through a deficit lens, reinforcing harmful narratives of dependency. At Infuse, we prioritise ethical engagement, and it was affirming to hear these principles echoed in Cathryn’s work.

What Was Missing?

One area I would have liked to see explored in greater depth is the critical examination of power dynamics in international experiential education. With multiple sessions running simultaneously, it’s possible that this was explored and that I simply missed the discussions, but some of the important, often uncomfortable questions that I would have liked to see discussed include: 

• How does international experiential education risk reinforcing inequality and saviorism?
• Does international experiential education inadvertently reproduce colonial worldviews, or can it serve as a tool to challenge Eurocentrism?
• When does experiential education genuinely empower host communities, and when does it become a tokenistic or superficial intervention?
• How do we assess the long-term impact of experiential learning—not just on students but on the communities involved?
• Do some programs oversimplify complex social issues, leading students to see development as a matter of providing resources rather than addressing systemic inequalities?

These are ongoing challenges, but they are challenges worth confronting. Encouragingly, I see a growing shift away from simplistic models and toward more critical engagement with these concerns.

At Infuse Travel, our mission is to support youth active citizenship for a more just and sustainable world. We design our experiential learning programs to inspire students to collaborate for meaningful, systemic change. But achieving this vision requires constant reflection—on what we’re doing well and where we can do better. As Infuse’s Director of Impact, I would have loved to hear more about how schools, educators, and program providers are grappling with these complexities and turning critique into action.

Final Thoughts

I would like to express my thanks and gratitude to the conference organisers, speakers, and attendees for making this such an enriching experience. A special thank you to the team that planned and delivered such a well-structured and engaging event, and to all the presenters for sharing their expertise so generously.

I’m already looking forward to next year’s conference in Bangkok!

Written by Dr Kearrin Sims, Director of Impact at Infuse Travel.