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! 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 conferences  in Tampere, Finland in October 2022, and in Taipei from 4-6 July 2024. Our next conference is in November 2024 in Manila, Philippines.  Details of the Manila conference are found at this link.

A list of our previous conferences is provided below

Conference 17 - New Challenges for Higher Education, Cities and Regions: Addressing SDGs in Changing Contexts, University of Taipei, Taiwan.

Conference 16 - Learning and crises: Future-proofing city responses, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland

Conference 15 - Learning Cities, Learning Societies and the Sustainable Development Goals: Connecting Research, Policy and Practice, Suwon City, Gyeonggi Province, Republic of Korea.

Conference 14 - Trends 2017 – Between Cities and the Rural: the Role of Universities in Developing our Societies, Pretoria, South Africa.

Conference 13 – Learning Cities 2040 – Global, Local, Connected, Sustainable, Healthy and Resilient, Glasgow, UK

Conference 12 Connecting Cities and Universities at Strategic Frontiers, Catania, Italy

Conference 11 Cities Learning Together, Hong Kong

Conference 10 The role of HE in local and regional social and economic development, Brest, France

Conference 9 Engaged Universities and Learning Cities/Regions, Gaborone, Botswana

Conference 8 Heritage, Regional, Development and Social Cohesion, Ostersund, Sweden

Conference 7 Community Engagement and Service: The Third Mission of Universities, Vancouver, Canada

Conference 6, Lifelong Learning's Role in Regional Development and Re-Generation, Limerick, Ireland

Conference 5 Life-Long Learning in the City-Region, Pecs, Hungary

Conference 4 Building Stronger Communities, 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. The LCN is directed for PASCAL by Dr Rob Mark who can be contacted for further information at [email protected]

PASCAL is also links with the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning in promoting the learning city concept.

Special Interest Groups (SIGs)

PASCAL has developed a series of Special Interest Groups (SIGs) to explore in more depth issues of priority interest in relation to PASCAL's remit. 

SIG1 is concerned with the Public Sector Interface, and is led by Dr Ilpo Laitinen from the City of Helsinki

SIG2 is concerned with Cultural Heritage and Cultural Literacy for Inclusive Societies and is led by Catherine Lido, University of Glasgow and Henrik Zipsane, Jamtli, Sweden

SIG3 is concerend with Learning in Later Life 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]), for SIG 2 Henrik Zipsane ([email protected]), and for SIG3 contact Thomas Kuan ([email protected]).

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] or directly to [email protected]

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 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].

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 section.