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STEMtastic Adventures! with Young Pacific Leaders

9 - 11 September 2025

FNU Namaka Campus, Nadi, Fiji

Event Highlights (Adobe PDF)
Event Highlights (eNews)
Agenda (PDF)
Presentation Abstracts
List of Accepted Presentations
List of Accepted Institutions

Event Overview

What happens when you mix the energy of the Pacific with the brilliance of 130+ changemakers? Three unforgettable days of STEMtastic Adventures!

Hosted at the Fiji National University, Namaka Campus in Nadi, the 2025 STEMtastic Adventures! with Young Pacific Leaders Symposium brought together educators, youth leaders, policymakers, donors, innovators, and researchers from across the Pacific and beyond. With 35+ inspiring presentations and the active participation of six Pacific Island governments, the event became a buzzing hub of ideas, collaboration, and celebration of STEM learning.

Co-hosted by the mEducation Alliance, Fiji National University, and The University of the South Pacific — with support from the U.S. Department of State’s Young Pacific Leaders Initiative — the symposium blended dynamic knowledge exchange, informal networking and entertainment with Pacific flair—from high-level policy exchanges to a lively STEM Education Village showcasing creativity and innovation at its best.

About the mEducation Alliance

The mEducation Alliance (mEA) and its Members are committed to strengthening educational ecosystems to bring wondrous learning opportunities to those in low-resource contexts.

In addition to hosting the STEMtastic Adventures! with Young Pacific Leaders Symposium in 2025, mEA hosted its inaugural regional symposium —STEMtastic Adventures! Africa (Nairobi, Kenya, 22 – 25 July), bringing together educators, policymakers, and innovators from across the continent to reimagine STEM education. 

This followed two successful global STEM-themed Symposia in 2023 and 2024, and the theme continued into mEA’s 15th Annual Global Symposium, The Marvelous Education Alliance (Arlington, Virginia, 7-9 October 2025).

Building on the momentum and connections from these gatherings, mEA is now developing a Global STEM Education Champions Network — a collaborative community of STEM educators, policymakers, and “STEMpreneurs” from around the world dedicated to advancing equitable, innovative learning opportunities

Objectives

The Symposium focused on the following key objectives:

  1. Strengthen regional and international partnerships and networks to address STEM education challenges

  2. Showcase impactful STEM initiatives, for potential replication in the Pacific Islands.

  3. Learn about innovative STEM education approaches led by Pacific Island communities.

  4. Engage in a global community of STEM champions.

  5. Attract new support (in-kind, technical, and financial) for promising STEM education initiatives.

Event Tracks

The event featured tracks on key themes shaping STEM education and innovation in Africa, including:

  • Accessibility with Limited Resources
  • AI and Emerging Technologies
  • Conservation & Climate Education
  • #InspirationSTEM Girls
  • Mathical Thinking
  • Foundational Learning
  • Youth Entrepreneurship / Employability
  • Teacher Empowerment
  • Policy and Funding
  • Supporting Learners with Disabilities

Target Audience

The Symposium brought together a diverse array of leading thinkers, activists, and implementers, including:

  • Government and Policy Representatives
  • International and Regional Organizations
  • Technology and Innovation Experts
  • Foundations and Non-/For-Profit Institutions
  • Researchers, Teachers, and Students

Symposium highlights

  • Engaging presentations across diverse STEM tracks
  • Ample networking and knowledge-sharing opportunities
  • Coding and Robotics Showcase
  • STEM Education Village with exhibitors!

Government Ministries in Attendance

See Some of Our Incredible Moments from the Symposium!

Jax Chaudhry

Jax Chaudhry leads Project Invent, a national nonprofit that empowers youth with future ready mindsets for individual success and global impact, through invention. Originally from the Southside of Chicago, Jax loves working with students, families and partners to ensure every student can attain success as they define it. For more than 10 years, she has worked with elementary schools, high schools, education nonprofits and led regional teams and operations to ensure student success.

Michael Leventhal

Kenneth Y T Lim operates at the intersection of neuroergonomics, the learning scienceMichael Leventhal is co-founder of RobotsMali, a pedagogical and AI4D laboratory and STEM education center in Bamako, Mali. RobotsMali has trained thousands of students from elementary school to high school in computer science, robotics, and artificial intelligence, coached national robotics teams that have won 32 medals in international competitions, and developed technologies using AI and robotics for the social and economic development of Mali. Before becoming an educator in Mali, Michael worked as a technologist in Silicon Valley.s, and cognitive psychology. In 2023, he and his team were identified by UNESCO to share their work on the affordances of Generative AI for meaningful teaching and learning, during UNESCO’s first annual flagship event Digital Learning Week, international forum on the implications of Generative AI for education, in the session on ‘Preparing students and teachers for responsible use of AI’.

Enouce Ndeche

Enouce Ndeche is the founder and Director of Vijana Amani Pamoja ,VAP a community scheme based in Nairobi Kenya that uses the power and the popularity of the game of soccer/football as a catalyst for social, educational and economic empowerment.Enouce holds a degree in sociology from Egerton university and he is also the 2020 individual award recipient “Diversity and Inclusion Eminent Leader Award Enouce is also a certified Sports Philanthropy and Executive, George Washington University and is a 2023 Gratitude Network fellow.

Kenneth Y T Lim

Kenneth Y T Lim operates at the intersection of neuroergonomics, the learning sciences, and cognitive psychology. In 2023, he and his team were identified by UNESCO to share their work on the affordances of Generative AI for meaningful teaching and learning, during UNESCO’s first annual flagship event Digital Learning Week, international forum on the implications of Generative AI for education, in the session on ‘Preparing students and teachers for responsible use of AI’.