The public is invited to the Harry Baglole Memorial Public Symposium in Island Studies, “Measuring Quality of Life on Prince Edward Island,” on Thursday, November 22, 7-9 p.m., at UPEI’s MacKinnon Auditorium, Room 242, McDougall Hall. This event is sponsored by UPEI’s Institute of Island Studies, in conjunction with UPEI Research Services. 

The principal speaker will be Gwen Colman, who, in 1997, along with her husband Ron, founded Genuine Progress Index (GPI) Atlantic, a pioneering research organization in creating new measures of wellbeing and progress. Gwen will be speaking about GPI’s work in collaborative development of wellbeing measures with communities in Bhutan, New Zealand, Thailand, and Nova Scotia. Recently, GPI has worked with a network of universities and NGOs in Southeast Asia, developing a methodology for collaborative development of wellbeing measures at the community level. She will speak about recent work in two communities in Thailand, and about previous work with the creation of Community GPIs in two communities in Nova Scotia. Gwen will identify the elements for creating successful community partnerships to measure wellbeing and their resultant impact. 

Joining Gwen Colman are panelists Dr. Jim Randall and Wendy MacDonald, who will address the relevance of GPIs to the health and prosperity of this island.

The Symposium series is being newly renamed after Harry Baglole, the Institute of Island Studies' first Director, who passed away in May. Harry was the architect of many Public Symposia over the years, born out of his passionate vision for strong, Prince Edward Island-made, public policy frameworks.

For more details, go to www.islandstudies.com, e-mail iis@upei.ca, or call 902-894-2881.