In 2020, we are celebrating 25 years of the Doctoral Programme in Educational Research - Higher Education (DPER).  Throughout this time, the programme has offered students an opportunity  to become higher education researchers. It was one of the first  doctoral programmes in the field of higher education research. We organised the celebrations through a webinar series. The kick-off panel was held on 2 September. It was focused on higher education as a research field more  broadly, and how it has developed in time. The speakers also reflected on the role  of doctoral programmes and research centres in establishing higher  education as a research field. The speakers were: Dr Jelena Brankovic (Bielefeld University, Germany). She is the coordinator of the Early Career Higher Education Researchers (ECHER) network, and a member of the Board of Governors of CHER (Consortium of Higher Education Researchers). Prof Paul Ashwin (Lancaster University). Paul is Head of the Educational Research Department. Paul is a co-ordinating editor of Higher Education, and co-editor of the Bloomsbury book series 'Understanding Student Experiences of Higher Education'. He is in the management committee of the Centre for Global Higher Education (CGHE). Prof Malcolm Tight (Lancaster University). Malcolm is past Director of DPER of many years, and researcher of the higher education field. Malcolm is the editor of the book series International Perspectives on Higher Education Research, the editorial advisory board member of the Journal of Education and Work, and past editor of Studies in Higher Education.  The panel was chaired by Dr Janja Komljenovic (Lancaster University). Janja is Director of DPER, and of the CHERE@LU.  This episode is the recording of the panel.