John Pearce Memorial Lecture

Date: Monday 2nd October 2017
Time: 5.00pm – 8.30pm
Location: Deeprose Lecture Theatre, Govan Mbeki Building,
Glasgow Caledonian University, Cowcaddens Road,
Glasgow, G4 0BA

The lecturer this year will be Laurie Russell from the Wise Group. The Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) would like to invite you to the annual John Pearce Memorial Lecture and an update on the Social Enterprise Collection (Scotland).

Laurie Russell has spent 40 years working on social and economic regeneration in Western Scotland. The lecture will reflect on how social enterprise and other interventions meet the needs and aspirations of poor communities and supporting people to transform their lives and be free of poverty. It will explore the role of social enterprises in being able to deliver better and more responsive public services and what is holding back the pace and depth of public service reform. It will challenge some of the assumptions about the role that social enterprise could play in achieving inclusive economic growth in Scotland. This will include his thoughts on how social enterprises should adapt and prepare for the challenges they will face over the next few years.

This is a free event but please can you RSVP to ensure your place.

Programme

5.00pm
Reception and registration

5.30pm
Welcome: Pamela Gillies, Vice-Chancellor,
Glasgow Caledonian University

Introduction and explanation about the Memorial Lecture and Social Enterprise Collection (Scotland):
Cam Donaldson, Yunus Chair in Social Business and Health, Glasgow Caledonian University;

Gillian Murray, CommonHealth Programme, GCU

6.00pm
John Pearce Memorial Lecture: Are social enterprises in Scotland fit and agile enough to face the challenges of the future?
Laurie Russell, CEO, The Wise Group

6.45pm
Questions, interventions, representations, etc

7.00pm
Closing remarks and finish

7.15pm
Refreshments: food and drink in the reception area

John Pearce (1942-2011)

John Pearce, who died from cancer aged just 69, was a major and influential force in community development and in particular was a pioneer in community enterprise - the precursor to social enterprise. For nearly fifty years, John‘s ideas, inspiration and talent for clear thinking were a driving force behind people-centred development and especially around the principles and practice of collective and community enterprise. He wrote extensively throughout his working life with an insight well-illustrated in his seminal work: Social Enterprise in Anytown (2003). He was a thinker who managed to turn theories into practice and directly helped the development of communities in Scotland, the UK and wider afield.

Laurie Russell, CEO, Wise Group
Laurie has been Chief Executive of the Wise Group since 2006. The Wise Group makes a positive difference to people’s lives through accessing new skills and securing employment, reducing re-offending, regenerating communities and tackling fuel poverty. From 1989 to 2006 Laurie was Chief Executive of Strathclyde European Partnership Ltd and managed over €1500 million of European funding programmes for the economic and social regeneration of western Scotland. Prior to that he held posts in the chief executive’s department in Strathclyde Regional Council and led a community regeneration initiative in Clydebank in the early 1980s. Laurie chaired the board of Social Enterprise Scotland from 2007 to 2013. He knew John throughout both of their careers and was influenced by John’s creativity and clear vision of their shared passions.

Further information

Yunus Centre Website: www.gcu.ac.uk/yunuscentre
CommonHealth Website: www.commonhealth.uk
or contact Karen McDairmant: karen.mcdairmant@gcu.ac.uk