Abstract
<jats:p>In 2025, the MELLearN Higher Education Lifelong Learning Network organised its 21st MELLearN Higher Education Lifelong Learning Conference together with the Juhász Gyula Faculty for Education at the University of Szeged. The participants of the conference explored the specific factors of the lifelong learning ecosystem through their analytical papers, pointing out their stimulating or repulsive effects in the context of learning participation, environments and collaborations by using interdisciplinary approaches. The theme of lifelong learning ecosystem was examined in five thematic areas by analytical papers to have been included in this collection as the editor arranged the included selected papers into thematic chapters in an unusual way, which are detailed studies based on the presentations of workshops of the 2025 conference. These topic areas are as follows: • Ecosystem-based approach and quality improvement in higher education • Higher education and adult learning and education • Innovations in Teacher Training • Community Learning and Citizen Science As the Chief Executive Officer of the MELLearN Association, I thank the authors for exploring the current research and development dimensions of their chosen topics in their papers and I thank the reader for their respectful attention, thereby supporting knowledge transfer in higher education through university lifelong learning.</jats:p>