The theme of this, the 12th PASCAL Observatory conference, concerns how cities and their regions are connected to their universities at strategic frontiers. These include knowledge and political frontiers, and each is linked to global challenges that include employment, migration, health, food security and climate change. The conference builds upon the themes of previous PASCAL conferences and of some of the observatory’s key work, notably the PURE (Pascal Universities Regional Engagement) and PUMR (Pascal Universities for a Modern Renaissance) projects, both of which have been concerned with the engagement of universities and colleges with key regional players, and its ongoing PIE (Pascal International Exchanges) and LCN (Learning Cities Networks) programmes, which focus on the learning city/region. It looks forward to new Observatory work in taking up themes developing in 2015 through OTB (Outside the Box) related to interdisciplinary initiatives. It looks outward in strengthening network partnerships as developed for example through Big Tent which earlier Pascal Conferences helped build. Our Conference this year is co-sponsored by the University of Catania, the City of Catania, Association Culturali, the UNESCO Chair for Community-engaged research and Social Responsibility, Manchester University Press and the ANCI Italian Association of Cities.

It is appropriate that the conference is taking place in Sicily, hosted by the University of Catania and supported by the city of Catania, at one frontier of Europe where issues of migration and job security during a time of global economic decline are at the forefront of local thinking. Southern Italy exemplifies new challenges and fault-lines confronting Europe. Austerity and immigration, political, ideological-religious-cultural, economic, social and other strategic issues intensify and interweave. Sicily serves as a laboratory to examine these new imperatives from within a European frontier region.

Conference Challenge Question:

“In the end it is education and lifelong learning that are the critical catalysts for sustainable regional regeneration - Is it so – and how?”

For more details see http://conference.pascalobservatory.org

Abstracts due by 1 June 2015

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