We are pleased to announce that the work of SUEUAA will be extended through staff and student exchanges as a result of a successful institutional application by the University of Glasgow to the European Commission's Erasmus+ 2018 Key Action 107, Higher education student and staff mobility between Programme and Partner Countries - International Credit Mobility.

Your are cordially invited to a forum in Manila on 28 August at which emerging outcomes of this project will be disseminated. There is no fee for this event and further details are attached. This event presents cases of engagement from our six countries and will be of interest to academics, policy-makers and officials in cities and students from around the world. It will include a keynote from Dr Mario Delos Reyes (University of the Philippines), plenary sessions from Local Government officials and academics on the subject of interventions at the city level, and a presentation by Professor Roberta Piazza (University of Catania, Italy) on the topic of forced migration. This event also features a showcase of work currently being undertaken by the SUEUAA team, and provides opportunity and space for discussion.

The Strengthening Urban Engagement of Universities in Africa and Asia (SUEUAA) project team involves academics from six cities in the Global South: Johannesburg (South Africa), Dar-es-Salaam (Tanzania), Harare (Zimbabwe), Manila (Philippines), Sanandaj (Iran), and Duhok (Iraq); and one city in the Global North, Glasgow (Scotland).  At times this blog will highlight incidences where the team members were offered the opportunity to give presentations, lectures, seminars, in order to highlight the public engagement work of the team.

Mike Osborne and Kasia Borokowska were very pleased to be able to represent the SUEUAA project at the second meeting in London on 19 June of projects funded with the British Academy's Cities and Infrastructure Programme with the Global Challenges Research Programme. We were joined by representatives of other projects, each reporting on their progress. It became very evident that much synergy exists within the programme, and we were very pleased to be approached by colleagues from Mexico interested in joining our project.

Mike Osborne and Kasia Borokowska were very pleased to be able to represent the SUEUAA project at the second meeting in London on 19 June of projects funded with the British Academy's Cities and Infrastructure Programme with the Global Challenges Research Programme. We were joined by representatives of other projects, each reporting on their progress. It became very evident that much synergy exists within the programme, and we were very pleased to be approached by colleagues from Mexico interested in joining our project.

The Strengthening Urban Engagement of Universities in Africa and Asia (SUEUAA) project team involves academics from six cities in the Global South: Johannesburg (South Africa), Dar-es-Salaam (Tanzania), Harare (Zimbabwe), Manila (Philippines), Sanandaj (Iran), and Duhok (Iraq); and one city in the Global North, Glasgow (Scotland).  At times this blog will highlight incidences where the team members were offered the opportunity to give presentations, lectures, seminars, in order to highlight the public engagement work of the team.

Last week our colleague at the School of Education, University of Glasgow, Dr Mia Perry, wrote a piece for the Scotsman (Aid is all very well but fair exchange and self-awareness may matter more). Mia is one of the lead academics in the Sustainable Futures in Africa Network, a consortium of researchers, educators, development workers located in countries across Africa (specifically Botswana, Malawi, Nigeria, and Uganda). The network is multi-disciplinary, spanning education, geography, art, and engineering among others. It is engaged in a number of projects, including The CSPE (Communities of Science and Practice Engage) Network: Mitigating the implementation gap in environmental initiatives through community engagement and public pedagogies,funded under GCRF by ESRC (ES/P006701/1)

On the 19th and 20th of February, the British Academy (BA) invited the 16 projects funded under their Global Challenges Cities and Infrastructure call to attend a two day event in London. SUEUAA was represented by Professor Mike Osborne, Dr Muir Houston, Dr Jo Neary, and Dr Neil Burnside. The first day was an opportunity for networking and for each of the funded projects to outline their aims, objectives, and methodologies by way of a short 10 minute presentation.

Professors Michael Osborne & Caroline Knowles

The Strengthening Urban Engagement of Universities in Asia and Africa (SUEUAA) project team were delighted to welcome Professor Caroline Knowles, Programme Director of the British Academy’s Cities and Infrastructure Programme, this week for a meeting in the School of Education at the University of Glasgow. This year, the British Academy’s Global Challenge Research Fund (Cities and Infrastructure) funded 17 projects across the UK, all of which looking at aspects of how to create and maintain sustainable and resilient cities in developing countries, of which SUEUAA is one*.

During the first SUEUAA meeting at the University of Glasgow (December 18-20, 2017), the Partners involved in the project discussed the implementation of two benchmarking tools; one for higher education institutions, and one for city stakeholders in the context of learning cities. John Tibbitt, Deputy Chair of the PASCAL Observatory joined the delegates to discuss the importance of benchmarking and to present how the tools can be applied in different contexts.