Announcing the 2025 China New Development Awards

See the winning books

On June 18, 2025, the China New Development Awards (CNDA) honored ten outstanding books published by Springer Nature, recognized for their contributions to sustainable development research and alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

Revealed at the 31st Beijing International Book Fair (BIBF), the awards were presented by Niels Peter Thomas ( Executive Vice President (EVP), Books, Springer Nature), together with Arnout Jacobs (President Greater China, Springer Nature), Anil Chandy (VP HSS and Focus Projects, Springer Nature), and James Finlay (VP Applied Science Books, Springer Nature).

This year’s scholarly keynote address was delivered by Professor Ronghuai Huang (Professor in the Faculty of Education at Beijing Normal University; UNESCO Chair on Artificial Intelligence in Education), with the title “Facilitating Higher Education Transformation with Digital Mindset in the AI Era”, in the form of a digital human. The speech explored student empowerment, institutional transformation, and pedagogical innovation in the context of intelligent technologies that are reshaping the future of education.

In his speech, Professor Ronghuai Huang extended sincere gratitude to Springer Nature, thanking Dr. Niels Peter Thomas and the Springer team for their long-standing commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals whose actions align closely with the priorities of the global education community. He also commented that the “China New Development Award” demonstrates unique value in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration.

Meet the 2025 Award Winners

2025 Goal in Focus: SDG 4 Quality Education

Panel Discussion: Education for the Future

With SDG 4: Quality Education at the forefront, this year’s panel discussion hence focused on the theme of “Education for the Future”. Our award winner, book authors, researchers, policy makers, and school leaders joined in a lively panel discussion around AI and education—the application of AI in education and its impact on different aspects of educational practices and conditions, as well as the efforts and contributions China has made to promote the achievement of SDG 4.

The panelists include:

  • Niancai Liu (Moderator), Professor at the School of Education, Director of the Center for World-Class Universities (Strategic Research Base of the Ministry of Education), Shanghai Jiao Tong University
  • Ronghuai Huang, Co-Dean of Smart Learning Institute of Beijing Normal University, UNESCO Chair on Artificial Intelligence in Education
  • Jing Liu, Deputy Director of Education, Skills, Creative, Retail and Sports, Department for Business and Trade, British Embassy in Beijing
  • Wen Wen, Tenured Professor in higher education and Vice Dean, School of Education, Tsinghua University
  • Yuchi Zhao, Executive Director of International Research and Training Centre for Rural Education under the auspices of UNESCO, Beijing Normal University
  • Xingzhi Li, Head of the Department of International Education, Beijing Information Technology College

Springer Nature’s latest publications showcase China’s contributions to digital learning, teacher training, and rural education access, reinforcing lifelong learning and reducing disparities.

Below are selected titles from leading China-based researchers.