Séamus Ó Tuama is Director of ACE (Adult Continuing Education) at University College Cork, Ireland and Chair of the ASEM Education and Research Hub for Lifelong Learning (ASEM LLL Hub), an official network for university cooperation in Lifelong Learning Research across 51 countries in Asia and Europe. He was a member of the organising committee when Cork City hosted the third UNESCO International Conference on Learning Cities in 2017. He continues to be actively engaged in Cork Learning City, being a member of both the Lifelong Learning Festival and Learning Neighbourhoods committees. He has presented, published and delivered workshops on learning cities across the globe. He is a member of the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame, an ambassador for eucen and a recipient of an AAACE President’s Appreciation Award. He serves on various committees, boards and panels on adult education and lifelong learning internationally. He holds academic roles at the Department of Government & Politics, University College Cork, as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Science & Technology Meghalaya, India, as a visiting professor at Adi Shankara Institute of Engineering & Technology, India; Daffodil University, Bangladesh and Yogyakarta State University, Indonesia.
Eric Agbessi is a university professor and director of the Institute of Technology at the University of Clermont Ferrand in France. He has been a researcher in the field of public space and its interaction with territories for the last 30 years. He is currently working on improving learning in the context of learning cities. He is a member of Research Network 6: Learning Cities and Learning Regions of ASEM Lifelong Learning Hub and is a former member of the Steering Committee of eucen.
Tina Neylon was founding Coordinator of the Cork Lifelong Learning Festival, one the most significant dimensions of Cork Learning City and a key component in Cork being recognised by UNESCO as one of the first global learning cities in 2015. She served as its Coordinator from its inception in 2004 until 2017. She was a member of the organising committee when Cork City hosted the third UNESCO International Conference on Learning Cities in 2017. She also served on the drafting committees for declarations on Learning Cities at two of the UNESCO conferences, in Beijing (2013) and Cork (2017). She returned to education as a mature student at University College Cork and graduated with an MA. She has worked in Arts, Heritage and Media, including as curator of a stately home, books editor at a national newspaper, radio presenter, and parliamentary assistant. Her wide working experiences informs her approach to learning cities and lifelong learning.