The 19th annual PASCAL International Observatory on Developing Sustainable Lifelong Learning Ecosystems has just been concluded. It was hosted by NIT Calicut, Kerala, India, and in collaboration with Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) LLL Hub South Asia and Adi Shankara Institute of Engineering & Technology (ASIET), Kalady, Kerala, India, from 10-12 November 2025. We are deeply grateful to Dr Shalini Singh of the ASEM LLL Hub Regional Centre for South Asia and Dr Jacob George, Senior Associate Director and Chairman, Centre for Excellence in Lifelong Learning, ASIET, for their immaculate organisation of the conference, and their hospitality, which went well beyond any expectations that we had. We are of course very grateful to the Director of NIT Calicut, Professor Prasad Krishna, Dean, International Collaborations Prof. Ravi Varma M.K. and the rest of the NIT Calicut staff for hosting the event and look forward to further collaboration.

The conference included contributions from the Chair of the PASCAL Executive, Professor Michael Osborne (an Inaugural Adress on Learning Neighbourhoods & PASCAL’s Vision, and an overview of lifelong Learning policies in the UK as part of a keynote panel). That panel also included contributions from PASCAL Africa Director, Professor Marius Ventor, PASCAL Americas Director, Professor Radha Jagannathan, PASCAL Asia -Pacific Director, Professor Mario delos Reyes and PASCAL Associate Director, Professor Roberta Piazza, who presented analyses of lifelong learning in South Africa, the US, the Philippines and Italy respectively.

Professor delos Reyes also led two highly interactive 2h workshops on the mapping of challenges faced by neighbourhoods and their potential solution, using part of an extensive toolbox that his Centre for Neighbourhoods Studies has developed. The workshops began with the presentation of an animation on Learning Neighbourhoods in the Developing South: A Practical Toolkit for Cities and Communities prepared by Dr Shilpi Roy, University of Khulna, Professor delos Reyes and Professor Osborne with the support of members of PASCAL’s learning city network, Peter Kearns, Denise Reghenzani, Leone Wheeler and Sharyn Wheatcroft, all from Australia.

The conference concluded with the PASCAL Declaration on Learning Neighbourhoods, which PASCAL commits to supporting the development of learning neighbourhoods by offering concrete tools to map challenges in neighbourhoods and develop strategies to meet their challenges in collaboration with communities.

There followed further institutionally led events in Kerala, in and around Thiruvananthapuram. These included an International Conclave on “Beyond Education: Achieving Sustainable Future through Lifelong Learning” (14 November 2025, UKF College of Engineering and Technology, Kollam), which underlined the importance of curriculum transformation and international research cooperation and an International Symposium on “Creating Resilient and Sustainable Learning Neighbourhoods for Sustainable Future(s)” (15 November 2025, Asian School of Business, Trivandrum), emphasizing community resilience, inclusive education, and student engagement in social innovation.

Read the Conference Summary below.