PASCAL International Observatory is a dynamic and rapidly expanding organisation which aims to connect the communities of policy makers, practioners and researchers through an innovative approach to the sharing and exchange of cutting-edge best practice research, ideas and policies.
PASCAL is a response to the growing international demand from cities, regional and local governments and other organisations for knowledge and expertise which can be quickly mobilised to support the development and assessment of initiatives relating to the development and renewal of place, including social, economic and cultural development, and with particular emphasis on the role of social capital and lifelong learning.
PASCAL is both an observatory which collects, consolidates and organises knowledge, and a 'think and do' tank: our whole approach is geared to working to bring global thinking to the practical solution of local and regional issues. We offer a unique approach based on:
We are an independent not-for-profit organisation. We draw our members from regional governmental orgnaisations, universities and other organisations in the policy and research communities. We work collaboratively with our members, seeking to provide solutions to issues through a whole variety of activities which best fit the particular context in question. These activites include major international research and development programmes, inputs to local policy-making processes, and, most importantly, facilitating opportunities for mutual learning. Examples of all of these are available on other pages of this site.
PASCAL operates globally from four regional offices [1] around the world, based at RMIT University, Melbourne, (covering Australia and Asia), the University of Glasgow (covering Europe), University of South Africa, Pretoria (covering Africa) and Northern Illinois University covering North and South America. PASCAL is co-directed by Professor Mike Osborne [2] in Glasgow, Professor Catherine Odora Hoppers [3] in Pretoria, Professor Bruce Wilson [4] in RMIT and Paul Crawford [5] [6] at NIU. Operations are co-ordinated through the the Pascal Office by Dr Alan Foster, Executive Officer, based at Glasgow University.
PASCAL has an extensive network of expert associates who all have experience in senior positions in governmental and other public bodies and in academic institutions, who can be mobilised rapidly to offer expert advice and research to member and client organisations, from an international perspective.
You can explore the details of who our people are, and the work we have undertaken, on the pages of this site.
We are always ready to discuss ways in which PASCAL can work with your organisation either on its own, or as part of a consortiuum of organisations in your region seeking to address particular issues. Don't hestitate to contact either your nearest PASCAL regional office [1] or Alan Foster, [7] the Executive Officer. You will find us very responsive and very prepared to develop a membership package and a business plan which will meet your needs.
PASCAL operates from five regional offices: based at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology [9] (RMIT), the University of Glasgow [10], University of Johannesburg [11] (UJ) in co-operation University of South Africa [12] (UNISA), and Tecnológico de Monterrey [13].
Each office is led by one of the Co-Directors, has responsibility for supporting members and associates in a particular geographical territory and leads on particular projects. The regional office in Glasgow also hosts the Head of Policy for PASCAL with other members of the administrative team being located there and in other regional offices.
The territorial responsibility for RMIT is Asia and Australasia, for the University of Glasgow is Europe, for UJ and UNISA is Africa, for Tecnológico de Monterrey is Mexico, Central and South America, and for Northern Illinois University is North America, Canada and the Caribbean.
It is envisaged that other offices will be created in the near future in other parts of the world, leading to changes in current responsibilities.
For enquires from Asia and Australasia, please contact Robbie Guevara at RMIT [14]
For enquires from Europe, please contact Professor Mike Osborne at the University of Glasgow [15]
For enquires from Africa, please contact Dr Marius Venter [16] at the University of Johannesburg or Professor Catherine Odora Hoppers [17] at the University of South Africa (UNISA)
For enquiries from Mexico, Central and South America, please contact Professor Francisco Javier Carrillo Gamboa at Tecnológico de Monterrey (Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education) [13]
All general enquiries can be made to John Tibbitt [18], PASCAL Head of Policy at the University of Glasgow.
For a location map and website link details, please see the RMIT PASCAL member entry [19].
The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) is one of Australia’s original and leading educational institutions, producing graduates who are employed readily in a wide range of industries. As an innovative, global university of technology, with its heart in the city of Melbourne, RMIT has an international reputation for excellence in work-relevant education and outstanding applied research, and engagement with the needs of industry and community. It has a diverse range of engineering, health, business, architecture and design, international studies and community services programs, framed to assist students understand better the major challenges of our times. PASCAL has a brief to link with all parts of the University, but has had close linkages with the School of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning.
RMIT has been involved with PASCAL from the outset. It was a co-sponsor of the OECD conference on learning regions from which PASCAL was founded, and has relished PASCAL’s efforts to focus on the interests and needs of regional authorities.
The RMIT node has worked closely from the outset with senior members of the Victorian Government public service, whose support has been evident from the role played by the Victorian representatives on the PASCAL Advisory Board.
In the spirit of partnership with the Victorian Government, RMIT and PASCAL co-hosted the ‘Linking Services, Connecting People’ conference with the Department for Victorian Communities and the Institute of Public Administration of Australia in 2004. This was a major conference in which a number senior members of PASCAL’s other two regional partners, Kent and Scotland, played prominent roles. In 2006, PASCAL and the Department for Victorian Communities combined again to present a two-day linked conference on Governance and Communities. The first day was hosted by the Department at its offices on the theme of ‘Strengthening and Joining up in Victoria’ (with Josef Konvitz, then a member of the PASCAL Advisory Board as a keynote speaker), while the second was at RMIT, on the theme of ‘Building Social Capital and Enhancing Learning’.
Apart from its more general role as the hub of PASCAL administration, there have been a number of local projects which PASCAL at RMIT has led. One, ‘Community as a Learning Resource’ (funded by the Departments of Education and the then Victorian Communities), has examined the importance of young people’s learning in community settings, and supported the wider recognition by schools of the importance of that learning. A key element of this project was PASCAL’s role in facilitating a visit to Kent by a delegation from the Hume Global learning Village Committee. PASCAL at RMIT has also contributed to a human rights education strategy (Education Strategy for the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission), offering suggestions about how the Commission’s strategy could build on collaboration with other key stakeholders. It also assisted non-government organisations with their strategic thinking about the kind of organisational futures that they can look forward to (Yooralla Scenario Planning)., recognising the key role of their people and how they facilitate learning that would generate innovation.
The PASCAL node at RMIT is led currently by Co-Director, Professor Bruce Wilson, who is supported by Mary Serafim as Administrative Officer. Professor John Fien is a PASCAL Associate, and Dr Robbie Guevara is President of the Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education (ASPBAE), and takes a close interest in PASCAL’s activities. Dr Anne Badenhorst has completed a major study of a learning region in Melbourne’s north, and as a Deputy Chair of one of the new Regional Development Australia regional committees, she makes an important contribution to the work being undertaken in PURE Melbourne on regional innovation systems. David Campbell is the Executive Director of the Office of Knowledge Capital, the sponsor of PURE in Melbourne, and other university representatives involved with PURE contribute regularly and significantly to that project. Dr Charlotte Scarf was the Content Editor for PASCAL for a period; she has since completed a doctorate on knowledge-based aid and development, focussing on the political use and impact of ICT.
RMIT seeks to build the profile of PASCAL throughout Asia, the Pacific, New Zealand and the other states of Australia. It is a member of Citynet, an association of Asian municipalities, and through its Director, has formed links with the International Regional Benchmarking Consortium that is based in Seattle and includes cities such as Melbourne, Fukuoka and Daejon in Korea.
For a location map and website link details, please see the University of Glasgow PASCAL member entry [20].
The base for the PASCAL Centre in Europe is the University of Glasgow (UoG) within its Centre for Research and Development in Adult and Lifelong Learning (CR&DALL) in its School of Education
The University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is a research-intensive institution established in 1451with a strong local commitment to its city, which suffers from some of the most significant social challenges with regard to health and well-being, and educational attainment in the UK. The university places a premium in shaping research and teaching to address these challenges thorough a strong place-based commitment and through a focus on community-engaged research.
This is reflected in a number of the inter-disciplinary research themes of the College of Social Sciences (Addressing Inequalities, Sustainable Development and Challenges in Changing Cities). These themes are also played out in the university's central Advanced Research Centre (ARC), housed in a new £137m building that concentrates inter-disciplinary research, and which through its Open Lab is creating a space for engagement with local communities, and which also houses a major research theme on Global Sustainable Development.
UoG School of Education
The School of Education at the University of Glasgow is committed to social justice in and through education, and to education research and practice of the highest quality. It aspires to be a world leader in addressing the contemporary educational issues of our times and to making a difference for society’s most vulnerable and educationally disadvantaged. The School over the past 5 years has been ranked on at least one occasion 1st in the UK on three league tables: the Times Good University Guide, the Complete University Guide and by the National Student Survey.
The School of Education is organized through four research and teaching groups (RTGs) and centres and with staff allocated to these on the basis of their research interests. These are:
Highlighted themes of its research are: urban and place-based learning; adult learning and youth transitions; migration and refugee education; collaborative schooling for change; and ethics, religion and values in education.
The RTGs host specialist research centres, networks and hubs, which attract members from across the School and beyond. The Centre for Research and Development in Adult and Lifelong Learning ( [25]CR&DALL), the Robert Owen Centre for Educational Change [26] and the Centre for Computing Science Education [27] promote high-quality, policy-relevant research within their thematic domains. The school is also the locus for the work in education of centres and hubs funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI): Centre for Sustainable, Healthy and Learning Cities and Neighbourhoods (SHLC); [28]Migration for Development and Equality (MIDEQ) (the South-South Migration, Inequality and Development Hub; and Urban Big Data Centre. [29]
Two key university-wide networks draw leadership from the School: the Glasgow Refugee, Asylum and Migration Network [30] (GRAMNet) and Sustainable Futures in Africa [31]. The School also hosts two externally facing networks in addition to the European Centre of PASCAL: the St Andrew’s Foundation for Catholic Teacher Education [32] and the University of Glasgow Educational Assessment Network [33] (UGEAN)/International Educational Assessment Network [34] (IEAN). It also hosts the UNESCO Chair Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts [35].
Directorate at UoG
Professor Michael Osborne |
Co-Director, Europe: University of Glasgow |
[email protected] [36] |
Professor Catherine Lido |
Deputy Director, Europe: University of Glasgow |
[email protected] [37] |
Centre Associates at UoG
Kasia Borkowska |
Lecturer |
|
Lesley Doyle |
Senior Lecturer |
|
Ria Dunkley |
Senior Lecturer |
|
Ken Gibb |
Professor |
|
Judith James |
Honorary Senior Research Fellow |
|
Rob Mark |
Honorary Senior Research Fellow |
|
James Powell |
Honorary Professor |
|
Russell Rimmer |
Honorary Professor |
|
Michele Schweisfurth |
Professor |
|
Chris Shepherd |
Honorary Senior Research Fellow |
|
John Tibbitt |
Honorary Senior Research Fellow |
|
Tony Townsend |
Emeritus Professor |
|
Oscar Valiente |
Professor |
|
Peter Welsh |
Honorary Research Fellow |
|
Associate Centres, Associate Directors
Roberta Piazza |
Associate Director Europe, University of Catania, Italy |
|
Balazs Nemeth |
Associate Director Europe, University of Pecs, Hungary |
|
Ilpo Laitinen |
Associate Director Europe, City of Helsinki, Finland |
|
Centre Director: Professor Michael Osborne
Michael Osborne is Professor of Adult and Lifelong Learning at the University of Glasgow, and Director of the Centre for Research and Development in Adult and Lifelong Learning [41] within the School of Education. He is also the European Director of the PASCAL Observatory [42] on Place Management, Social Capital and Lifelong Learning and one of the core members of the Lower to Middle Income Countries research group [43] at the university. His main interests in research are: the role of education in international development, urban big data, universities’ engagement with communities, widening participation to higher education, teaching and learning in higher education, the VET/HE interface and the development of learning cities and regions. He is a Co-I within the ESRC funded Urban Big Data Centre [44] within which he has worked on projects concerned with education, place and disadvantage, and on learning city metrics. He has been PI of the British Academy GCRF funded Strengthening Urban Engagement of Universities in Africa and Asia [45] project. He is also Co-I within the UKRI GCRF funded Centre for Sustainable, Healthy Learning Cities and Neighbourhoods [28].
He has worked closely with UNESCO’s Institute for Lifelong Learning [46] (UIL) and its International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP). With UIL he has been an adviser in the development of their Global Network of Learning Cities [47]. He produced the main Briefing Paper for the 2019 4th International Conference on Learning Cities in Medellin and has also produced one of the three Briefing Papers for its 5th conference in Korea in 2021 on Education, Health and Resilience in cites post-COVID-19. With IIEP he is working within a project that considers how education and lifelong learning contributes to urban planning - the Cities and Education 2030: Local challenges, global imperatives [48] programme.
Deputy Director: Professor Catherine Lido
Catherine Lido is Professor of Psychology and Adult Learning, in the School of Education at the University of Glasgow. She is Associate Director at Urban Big Data Centre (UBDC) leading novel research in Educational Disadvantage and Place, with Professor Mike Osborne, which includes expertise in capturing lifewide learning with UNESCO's Learnings Cities metrics. She is a Co-I on UBDC [50] Phase 2 and their data service extension grant, where she helped deliver, and promotes the use of, the integrated Multi-media City Data project open data source (iMCD) data accessible. She is the former Programme Leader for the MSc Psychological Studies, and teaches mainly face to face and online topics, including Psychology of Adult Learning and Cognitive Psychology at the Masters' level.
Catherine has published widely in the area of Learning Cities and Lifewide Learning capture. She has been in involved in many research projects in recent years, including in the area of novel methodologies to address education inequalities, including Co-I on the EPSRC-funded VisNET [51] project and GCRF on Gendered Journeys [52]. Completed projects include the British Council Impact Study and the Eat Well Age Well partnership project on food insecurity in older adults with Food Train [53].
Catherine delivers keynotes around the world, such as to the RSE-Ministry of Science and Technology on Big Data in Taiwan, to UNESCO-UIL expert panel on Learning Cities in Singapore and for the UNESCO Learning Cities conferences (Medellin and Mexico City). Catherine remains an active member of the British Psychological Society, sitting on the board of the Political Section), as well as the European Association of Social Psychologists, delivering a symposia on gendered inequalities.
Catherine maintains a regular media presence on BBC radio, TV and appeared on the June cover of The Psychologist Magazine on Big Data in the Big City [54]
Roberta Piazza, Associate Director Europe, University of Catania, Italy
Roberta Piazza holds a PhD in Education, and is full professor in Education at the University of Catania and Reader in Adult Education. She Associate Director of PASCAL Europe for the Meditteranean countries.
She is director of the University Research Centre on Community Engagement - CURE [55](Community University Research Engagement). She was vice-Rector for continuing education and lifelong learning (2017-2019) and she is member of the board of the Italian University Network on Continuing Education (RUIAP).
She has been associate director in Europe ofthe PASCAL Observatory since 2014. She is also European network coordinator of the Research Network 4 "National Strategies for Lifelong Learning" of the ASEM Education and Research Hub for Lifelong Learning (ASEM LLL Hub [56]), and a member of the scientific committee of UNESCO Lucca Learning City.
She has participated in several EU-funded projects on learning cities, lifelong learning, lifelong guidance, recognition of prior learning, apprenticeship and teacher training.
She has been appointed as quality assurance evaluator on a national level in Italy for undergraduate and post graduate programs by the National Agency of University Evaluation, and she is external expert for the European Commission's Horizon Europe programme. She was external examiner for the Postgraduate Diploma in Education (Professional and Vocational programme) (2018-2020, 2020-2022) of the Education University di Hong Kong.
She has been visiting professor at the University of Glasgow, Scotland; University of East China Normal University, China; Normal University of Manila, Philippines; University of Santander, Spain.
Balazs Nemeth, Associate Director Europe, University of Pecs, Hungary
Dr. habil Balázs Németh is a researcher on European adult and lifelong learning policy development and comparative adult education. He is an associate professor and reader in Adult Learning and Education at the University of Pécs and a founding member of the Hungarian Universities Lifelong Learning Network (MELLearN). His other research foci are: Politics and Adult Education; Comparative Adult Education; History of Modern European Adult Education and Learning City-Region Developments in association with the global network of learning cities programme (GNLC) of UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning.
Balázs Németh was a member of Steering Committee ofthe European Universities Continuing Education Network (EUCEN) from 2015 to 2019, being responsible for policy affairs and external presentations, and was its President until 2023. He is Associate Director of PASCAL International Observatory for Central-East Europe, President of MELLearN and the current president of the Adult Education Sub-Commission of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Also, he is member of Executive Boards of EAEA (European Association for the Education of Adults) and of PIMA (Promoting, Interrogating and Mobilising Adult Learning and Education). He is the Senior Advisor of the UNESCO Global Learning City Programme in Pécs, as joint project in between municipality, university and several stakeholders and CSOs. Dr. Németh is the member of the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame (2017-induction).
Dr. Németh has participated several European Erasmus, Grundtvig and recent Erasmus+ projects to deal with the professional development of adult education and provided surveys on adult learning and education in Central-East Europe for the European Commission on Quality in the Adult Learning Sector, Policy Developments in Adult Education. Currently, he is collaborating with EBSN (European Basic Skills Network) in the Professional Development Series for Basic Skills Teachers based on MOOCs.
Ilpo Laitinen, Associate Director Europe, City of Helsinki, Finland
Ilpo Laitinen is Director of Administration, City of Helsinki and an Adjunct professor at the University of Tampere in Finland, and Associate Director of PASCAL Europe for the Nordic countries. He is a senior level director in a city and a researcher and thus shows the capability of working across the boundaries of academia and the business. The work that he undertakes in both of those realms looks for new solutions to improve the quality of the public sector in the city that is among the world leaders in providing service to its people.
He is internationally experienced both in science and management e.g. in public administration and management, smart cities and innovation management. His areas of research cover the reform and evaluation of public administration and management, change management, innovation management, higher education research, and the utilisation of information technology in organisations.
His latest academic publications have been published in Public Management Review, International Journal of Innovation in the Digital Economy, International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development, Journal of Adult and Continuing Education and International Social Work.
Ilpo Laitinen is an Associate at the University of Oxford. His current and on-going research activities focus on Citizen Centric Smart City (Meaningful Cities) and digitalization of services, service innovation and co-creation of novel services and utilization of big data.
The Focus of the European Centre
The European Centre of PASCAL contributes to all aspects of the observatory’s work, but takes a particular leadership role in relation to the themes of Learning Cities and Regions, and the engagement of universities with their communities, within which it has played a leading role in Europe and beyond for two decades. This has been made concrete within a number of projects within which PASCAL directors have been involved, some examples of which are shown below. It oversees PASCAL’s Learning Cities Networks [57].
Relevant Projects at the bases of the European Centre
Links:
[1] https://pascalobservatory.org/regional-offices
[2] https://pascalobservatory.org/contact/mike_osborne
[3] https://pascalobservatory.org/contact/catherine_odora_hoppers
[4] https://pascalobservatory.org/contact/bruce_wilson
[5] https://pascalobservatory.org/contact/paul_crawford
[6] https://pascalobservatory.org/contact/bob_gleeson
[7] https://pascalobservatory.org/contact/alan_foster
[8] http://twitter.com/share
[9] https://pascalobservatory.org/people/members/rmit
[10] https://pascalobservatory.org/people/members/university-of-glasgow
[11] https://pascalobservatory.org/member/university-johannesburg
[12] https://pascalobservatory.org/member/university-south-africa-unisa
[13] https://pascalobservatory.org/contact/francisco-gamboa
[14] https://pascalobservatory.org/contact/robbie-guevara
[15] https://pascalobservatory.org/contact/mike-osborne
[16] https://pascalobservatory.org/contact/marius-venter
[17] https://pascalobservatory.org/contact/catherine-odora-hoppers
[18] https://pascalobservatory.org/contact/john-tiibbit
[19] https://pascalobservatory.org/member/royal-melbourne-institute-technology-rmit
[20] https://pascalobservatory.org/member/university-glasgow
[21] https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/education/research/clip/
[22] https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/education/research/elp/
[23] https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/education/research/ppf/
[24] https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/education/research/ppsc/
[25] http://cradall.org/
[26] https://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/robertowencentre/
[27] https://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/ccse/
[28] http://www.centreforsustainablecities.ac.uk/
[29] https://www.mideq.org/en/
[30] https://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/gramnet/
[31] https://www.sustainablefuturesinafrica.com/
[32] https://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/standrewsfoundation/
[33] https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/education/research/researchcentreshubsnetworks/educationalassessmentnetworks/ugean/
[34] https://www.iean.network/
[35] https://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/unesco/
[36] mailto:[email protected]
[37] mailto:[email protected]
[38] mailto:[email protected]
[39] mailto:[email protected]
[40] mailto:[email protected]
[41] http://www.gla.ac.uk/centres/cradall/index.shtml
[42] https://pascalobservatory.org/
[43] https://www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/socialsciences/lowandmiddleincomecountriesresearchnetworklmic/
[44] http://ubdc.ac.uk/
[45] http://sueuaa.org/
[46] https://uil.unesco.org/
[47] https://uil.unesco.org/lifelong-learning/learning-cities
[48] https://www.iiep.unesco.org/en/our-expertise/cities-and-education-2030-local-challenges-global-imperatives
[49] https://asemlllhub.org/
[50] http://www.ubdc.ac.uk/
[51] https://www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/scienceengineering/research/visnet/
[52] http://pobs.cc/1wo0a
[53] https://www.thefoodtrain.co.uk/
[54] https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-32/june-2019/big-data-big-city.
[55] https://pascalobservatory.org/%28http%3A/%252Fwww.cure.unict.it
[56] https://pascalobservatory.org/%28http%3A/%252Fasemlllhub.org
[57] https://lcn.pascalobservatory.org/