The organisations and individuals involved with PASCAL are involved in a wide range of activities. This section profiles these, and illustrates the range of expertise within the PASCAL network.
Please go to the PASCAL NOW! [1] page for an up-to-date listing of the latest PASCAL activities or for more details use the side menu here.
The activities highlighted here demonstrate how PASCAL is addressing its role as an International Observatory, synthesising and mobilising knowledge and working with cities and regions to help develop and implement relevant development strategies.
International Conferences
Since its inception, PASCAL has organised 16 international conferences in different parts of the world which have focused on particular aspects of the guiding themes.
The COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible to run face-to-face conferences for some while. However we ran our most recent conference in Tampere, Finland in October 2022, and our next conference is in Taipei from 4-6 July 2024, and in November 2024 in Manila, Philippines. Details of the Taipei conference, New Challenges for Higher Education, Cities and Regions: Addressing SDGs in Changing Contexts are found at this link [2]. Details of the Manila conference will be made available shortly.
A list of our previous conferences is provided below
Conference 16 - Learning and crises: Future-proofing city responses [3], University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland
Conference 15 - Learning Cities, Learning Societies and the Sustainable Development Goals: Connecting Research, Policy and Practice [4], Suwon City, Gyeonggi Province, Republic of Korea.
Conference 14 - Trends 2017 – Between Cities and the Rural: the Role of Universities in Developing our Societies [5], Pretoria, South Africa.
Conference 13 – Learning Cities 2040 – Global, Local, Connected, Sustainable, Healthy and Resilient [6], Glasgow, UK
Conference 12 Connecting Cities and Universities at Strategic Frontiers [7], Catania, Italy
Conference 11 Cities Learning Together [8], Hong Kong
Conference 10 The role of HE in local and regional social and economic development [9], Brest, France
Conference 9 Engaged Universities and Learning Cities/Regions [10], Gaborone, Botswana
Conference 8 Heritage, Regional, Development and Social Cohesion [11], Ostersund, Sweden
Conference 7 Community Engagement and Service: The Third Mission of Universities [12], Vancouver, Canada
Conference 6, Lifelong Learning's Role in Regional Development and Re-Generation [13], Limerick, Ireland
Conference 5 Life-Long Learning in the City-Region [14], Pecs, Hungary
Conference 4 Building Stronger Communities [15], Melbourne, Australia
Conference 3 Making Knowledge Work: Building Sustainable Partnerships through Place Management, Social Capital and Lifelong Learning. Stirling, UK
Seminars, workshops, masterclasses
PASCAL collaborates with many agencies to present expert seminars and workshops on issues related to the PASCAL themes. PASCAL can arrange masterclasses of relevant experts to help cities, regions, and others to identify priority issues for development strategies or for practice development.
Learning Cities Networks (LCN)
PASCAL has developed a flourishing network of learning cities. Learning City Networks are interactive policy-oriented groups of city stakeholders sharing ideas and experience for developing innovative responses to the big issues confronting cities.
There are currently 5 networks focussed respectively on cultural policies, inclusive learning, entrepreneurship, linking urban and rural regions, and developing the EcCoWell approach to learning cities. The networks came together at the 2016 PASCAL Conference in Glasgow, which included showcase presentations from 17 cities from around the world.
Full details of the networks are found on the LCN website [16]. The LCN is directed for PASCAL by Dr Rob Mark who can be contacted for further information at [email protected] [17]
PASCAL is also links with the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning [18] in promoting the learning city concept.
Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
[19]PASCAL has developed a series of Special Interest Groups (SIGs) [19] to explore in more depth issues of priority interest in relation to PASCAL's remit.
SIG1 is concerned with the Public Sector Interface [20], and is led by Dr Ilpo Laitinen from the City of Helsinki
SIG2 is concerned with [21]Cultural Heritage and Cultural Literacy for Inclusive Societies [21] and is led by Catherine Lido, University of Glasgow and Henrik Zipsane, Jamtli, Sweden
SIG3 is concerend with Learning in Later Life [22] and is led by Thomas Kuan, Singapore
Members are invited to join these groups and to propose new groups on their areas of interest. For SIG 1 please contact Ilpo Laitinen ([email protected] [23]), for SIG 2 Henrik Zipsane ([email protected] [24]), and for SIG3 contact Thomas Kuan ([email protected] [25]).
Web portal and social media information sites
PASCAL regularly scans policy, practice and academic literature, including web sources to inform content of the PASCAL website, and its social media platforms. Details of all current news can be found on the FULL LISTINGS page .
PASCAL distributes a Weekly Digest of latest news and information to registered users of the website, and also produces two regular electronic newsletters focused on key aspects of its general themes which are availabe directly to subscribers.
Readers are invited to submit content for consideration to Leone Wheeler, content editor at [email protected] [26] or directly to [email protected] [27]
Resources
The PASCAL website contains an extensive llibrary, currently with over 5000 items, including papers, reports, presentations by PASCAL members and others and conference proceedings. Details of the library can be found on the FULL LIBRARY page.
PASCAL is closely connected with the Urban Big Data Centre [28] at Glasgow University which is developing important new data for understanding learning in urban settings.
PASCAL has developed an adaptable Benchmarking template, which is available by subscription only. Please see the Resources page and contact John Tibbitt, Head of Policy at [email protected] [29].
PASCAL produces a series of 'State of the art' reviews and Policy Briefings. There is a growing number of PASCAL publications and ebooks. For full details go to the PRODUCTS & SERVICES page.
Projects and Programmes
PASCAL engages in a range of research and development projects and programmes. Since 2004 PASCAL has worked collaboratively with over 50 agencies around the world, including 20+ cities and regions.
PASCAL has carried out international comparative research and development programmes, for example the PURE programme on university / regional engagement, and also more locally focussed development work emphasising collaboration and partnership in inter-agency working in succesful place-based economic and social development.
For details see the PROJECTS [30] section.
This section provides news about PASCAL together with news of significant events, policy reports and developments, and research studies and techniques relating to the areas of interest of PASCAL. It is based on regular scanning of policy, practice and academic literature, including web-based sources and from submissions from readers.
If you would like to submit items for our consideration, please send your suggestions to Leone Wheeler [32] our Content Editor.
PASCAL distributes a Weekly Digest of news available by subscription. For previous issues, please see our archive page [33].
For details of all current news, please see the complete FULL NEWS LISTINGS... [34] pages.
There is further news and comment pertinent to PASCAL themes on social media. Check out our pages on Twitter and Facebook.
PASCAL hosts and is involved in a wide range of events worldwide:
Since its inception, PASCAL has organised 16 international conferences in different parts of the world which have focused on particular aspects of the guiding themes.
The COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible to run face-to-face conferences for some while. However we ran our most recent conference in Tampere, Finland in October 2022, and our next conference is in Taipei from 4-6 July 2024, and in November 2024 in Manila, Philippines. Details of the Taipei conference, New Challenges for Higher Education, Cities and Regions: Addressing SDGs in Changing Contexts are found at this link [2]
Seminars and Workshops
PASCAL from time to time organises shorter seminars ranging from one hour to a full day. Papers and proceedings will be posted here.
During 2014 seminars in Tampere and Pretoria were held around our Learning Cities 2020 [35] initiative. Further workshops are planned for Udine in Spring 2015 and Melbourne in November 2015. The culminating event was held in Glasgow from 3-5 June 2016.
From time to time PASCAL will be organising webinars. These will be made available live on the internet with the possibility of posing questions by text. Details of these events and proceedings will be posted here.
For details of all upcoming events, please see the complete FULL EVENTS LISTINGS... [36] pages.
We are developing a new series of webinars, podcasts and presentations using other media and formats. These will begin in 2020 and full details will be announced on this site and in social media.
We anticipate the series will be based on our briefing papers series. They will be presented by experts in the field and most will be open to anyone wishing to partipate and learn more.
Special Interest Groups (SIGs) comprise members of PASCAL and PIMA with a shared interest in advancing a specific area of knowledge, learning or technology where members collaborate to affect or to produce solutions within their particular field, and may communicate, engage, meet, and organize events.
There are currently 3 Special Interest Groups (SIGs) which explore in more depth issues of priority interest to PASCAL's remit.
SIG1 is concerned with the Public Sector Interface [20], and is led by Dr Ilpo Laitinen from the City of Helsinki
SIG2 is concerned with Cultural Policy and Literacy Development [21] and is led by Catherine Lido, University of Glasgow and Henrik Zipsane, Jamtli, Sweden
SIG3 is concerned with Learning in Later Life [22] and is led by Brian Findsen, New Zealand
Members are invited to join these groups and to propose new groups on their areas of interest. For SIG1 please contact Ilpo Laitinen ([email protected] [23]), for SIG2 Henrik Zipsane ([email protected] [24]), and for SIG3 contact Brian Findsen ([email protected] [37]).
The SiGs have each produced a number of papers relating to their discussions. They can be found on the appropriate SiG page. Readers are invited to add any thoughts and comments prompted by these papers.
PASCAL members and associates are actively involved in a wide range of activities around the world.
Located across the globe, representation of many of the PASCAL representatives is local rather than requiring the need for extensive travel; each representative then reports back through this webiste.
The map below shows an overview of some of the recent and upcoming activities PASCAL is involved in:
For complete details of all PASCAL member and associate activities, please see our Who's Doing What [38] listings page...
Links:
[1] https://pascalobservatory.org/pascalnow
[2] http://pobs.cc/23hjc
[3] https://events.tuni.fi/pascalconference2022/
[4] http://pobs.cc/1igs8
[5] http://conference2017.pascalobservatory.org/
[6] http://conference2016.pascalobservatory.org/
[7] http://conference.pascalobservatory.org//pascal-conference-2015
[8] http://pobs.cc/1694z
[9] http://pobs.cc/173tk
[10] http://pobs.cc/15i5z
[11] http://pobs.cc/15mlq
[12] http://pobs.cc/15mf8
[13] http://pobs.cc/17ac6
[14] http://pobs.cc/15kut
[15] http://pobs.cc/15yw7
[16] http://lcn.pascalobservatory.org
[17] mailto:[email protected]
[18] http://uil.unesco.org
[19] https://pascalobservatory.org/activities/special-interest-groups
[20] https://pascalobservatory.org/activities/special-interest-groups/sig1
[21] https://pascalobservatory.org/activities/special-interest-groups/sig2
[22] https://pascalobservatory.org/activities/special-interest-groups/sig3
[23] mailto:[email protected]
[24] mailto:[email protected]
[25] mailto:[email protected]
[26] mailto:[email protected]
[27] mailto:[email protected]
[28] http://ubdc.ac.uk
[29] mailto:[email protected]
[30] https://pascalobservatory.org/projects/introduction
[31] http://twitter.com/share
[32] https://pascalobservatory.org/contact/leone.wheeler
[33] https://pascalobservatory.org/activities/news/digest-archive
[34] https://pascalobservatory.org/pascalnow/news
[35] http://learningcities2020.org
[36] https://pascalobservatory.org/pascalnow/events
[37] mailto:[email protected]
[38] https://pascalobservatory.org/pascalnow/whos-doing-what