The 8^th SEFI Doctoral Symposium in Engineering Education Research, held at the campus of EPFL on Sunday, September 1^st, preceded the SEFI 2024 Annual Conference. In all, 31 Ph.D. researchers attended. They came to share and further probe their Ph.D. research topics and study plans and to strengthen and extend their professional networks. During this full and intense day, 22 established scholars provided the Ph.D. researchers with personal feedback and ideas regarding their research. Highlights, according to the Ph.D. student participants, were the welcome and sense of support and belonging they experienced from the engineering education research community, including both the advising senior researchers and the other Ph.D. students. Although SEFI is a European organization, the Ph.D. researchers and senior advisers travelled from Africa, Australia, and North America, as well as from all over Europe, to Switzerland for this event.