On the occasion of the Showcasing Event for the Urban Big Data Centre held on Wednesday 28 November, we were very pleased to be able to provide to an audience of over 100 so many examples of the work that has been undertaken during the last 5 years.

The event was opened by Professor Anne Anderson, Head of the College of Social Sciences at the University of Glasgow, and was followed by a presentation by Kate Forbes MSP, Minister for Public Finance and the Digital Economy in the Scottish Government. Professor Nick Bailey then provided an overview of the achievements of the centre and its future agenda.

Within the Education and Skills strand I was particularly pleased that not only were we able to profile work that we have been undertaking here in Glasgow (presented by Catherine Lido and Phil Mason as well as by Long Chen) and by our UBDC partners at the University of Bristol (Richard Harris), but also by associated partners who we have supported.

Notable amongst these have been the City of Helsinki, and we were delighted to be able to invite Ilpo Laitinen, Associate Director of PASCAL to present on Big Data and the Digital Program in Smart City Helsinki. We were also delighted to host Professor Josef Konvitz, chair of the PASCAL Board who has served on the advisory board of UBDC for the last five years.

We can also report that UBDC will be continuing for another 5 years, having recently been awarded transition funding by the ESRC, which together with support from University of Glasgow is providing a package of some £5m to continue its work. In a subsequent posting we will provide more information on the new strands of work of the centre

Michael Osborne
Professor of Adult and Lifelong Learning and Director of Research, University of Glasgow

Photos taken at Showcasing the Urban Big Data Centre (UBDC) - Glasgow, UK, 28th November, 2018 (click to enlarge)

Featuring (from left to right): Anne Anderson, Catherine Lido, Ilpo Latinen,  Kate Forbes, Nick Bailey, Phil Mason and Ricard Harris