Our monthly
PACT Newsletter
Each month, we share stories, highlights, and opportunities from across the PACT network — including events, research activities, calls and grants, Working Group news, and community achievements. We aim to publish the newsletter in the second week of each month.
APRIL 2026
Welcome to the April 2026 edition of the PACT newsletter. Following a busy and productive March, this month brings another round of updates from across the Action. In this issue, we share recent Working Group developments, highlight a new book launch from one of our partner research groups, and provide updates on current opportunities and announcements. While the recent grant call has now closed and we await the results, new activities are already on the horizon, including a call related to the upcoming event in Chios, Greece.
WORKING GROUP UPDATES
WG 2 - Knowledge Discovery in Data
In April, WG2 - Knowledge Discovery in Data saw exciting new developments. Members are currently co-creating a multidisciplinary Library of Indicators to support decision-making and evaluation related to energy transitions in Port Cities and Territories. This developing Library of Indicators will be discussed during a Focus Group Discussion on 30 April 2026, and will provide structured guidance for data collection across the different PACT pilot case studies, including Rotterdam, Lisbon, Le Havre, Limassol, and others.
The work on indicators includes the development of a framework to assess energy performance and decarbonisation pathways across port areas, with the aim of covering as many ports as possible. This work focuses on key dimensions such as electrification, shore power, renewable energy integration, and energy efficiency, supporting more sustainable port transition planning. For more information, please contact Mosè Rossi (mose.rossi@staff.univpm.it)
Another key development is the decision of the Rotterdam subgroup to focus on energy justice as a guiding theme. The subgroup will facilitate a Focus Group Discussion on energy justice on 3 June 2026. All PACT members are warmly invited to join and contribute to these Focus Group Discussions. To express your interest, please contact Maëlle Salzinger (m.s.salzinger@tudelft.nl)
WG 5 - Transmitting
In April, WG5 – Transmitting continued its monthly showcase series of short member presentations, providing members with an opportunity to present ongoing work and receive feedback from the wider group. The session contributed to WG5’s broader role in supporting dissemination, engagement, and visibility-building across the Action, while also creating space for interdisciplinary dialogue around port-city territories and inclusive transition.
For the April 2026 showcase, WG5 had the opportunity to learn from Mosé Rossi (Marche Polytechnic University), and we warmly thank him for sharing his time, knowledge, and insights with the group.
Dr. Mosè Rossi delivered a presentation entitled “Energy and Environmental Management: Tools, Solutions, and Sustainable Technologies for Port Decarbonisation,” which examined the role of maritime transport and port infrastructure in the wider energy transition. The session highlighted how ports are evolving from transport nodes into integrated multi-energy hubs, where energy production, storage, conversion, and consumption are increasingly interconnected.
Particular attention was given to green port strategies, including cold ironing/onshore power supply, electrification of port operations, renewable energy integration, energy storage, smart grids, digital monitoring, and improved waste and water resource management. The presentation also addressed the regulatory context and the main challenges facing ports, such as infrastructure investment, fuel availability, safety requirements, and the need for coordinated decision-making.
A wide range of alternative fuels and technologies was reviewed, including LNG, hydrogen, ammonia, methanol, biofuels, e-fuels, batteries, wind-assisted propulsion, and marine nuclear propulsion. Their potential benefits and limitations were discussed in relation to emissions reduction, infrastructure needs, costs, safety, and technological readiness. Case studies from Rotterdam, Hamburg, and Los Angeles illustrated different pathways toward port decarbonisation, while the AIMPRESS project was introduced as an example of interregional cooperation aimed at improving maritime operational efficiency, promoting circular and digital strategies, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions and noise pollution in the Adriatic-Ionian region.
AIMPRESS (Adriatic-Ionian Maritime oPeRational Efficiency and Sustainable Scheme) is an EU-funded Interreg IPA ADRION project promoting sustainable and energy-efficient port operations in the Adriatic-Ionian region. The project supports decarbonisation through digital solutions, renewable energy integration, and reduced maritime emissions. @Università Politecnica delle Marche (UNIVPM), through @DIISM and @WWEELab, is one of the project partners, contributing its expertise in innovation and energy systems.
For more information regarding AIMPRESS project, visit their website here.
Upcoming WG5 showcase presentations:
19.05.2026 | 14:00–15:00 — Bojan Srdjevic & Faruk Doğan
16.06.2026 | 15:00–16:00 — Piero Camera & Małgorzata Bielenia
If you would like to attend an upcoming WG5 monthly meeting and listen to the presenters, please contact Eliane Schmid (eliane.schmid@uni.lu)
UPCOMING EVENTS
Call for Papers - Energy Transition: Ports and Cities & Territories
PACT members are invited to contribute to a special session, or potentially several sessions depending on interest, on “Energy Transition: Ports and Cities & Territories”, organised by PACT during the European Conference on Shipping, Intermodalism and Ports - ECONSHIP 2026 (link here). The conference will take place in Chios, Greece, from 23 to 25 September 2026. The initiative is developed in collaboration with colleagues participating in the POTENT (Ports as Energy Transition Hubs) project.
The call highlights the role of ports as critical nodes in the global energy system and as key enablers in the shift from fossil fuel-based systems toward alternative fuel and energy.
Contributions may take the form of full papers or extended abstracts, following the ECONSHIP guidelines. The deadline for submissions is 15 June 2026.
Following presentation and peer review, papers presented at the special session may also be considered for publication in the scholarly journal Ports and Cities & Territories.
For more information on this call, see here
PACT Activities in Chios: Training Course and ECONSHIP Special Session
The ECONSHIP 2026 special session will also be connected to a broader sequence of PACT activities in Chios.
In the days preceding the conference, PACT will organise a training course from 19 to 23 September 2026 on the theme “PACT and Energy Transitions: Reflections on Case Studies.”
Together, the training course and the conference session will offer PACT members an opportunity to reflect on case studies, exchange knowledge, and contribute to wider discussions on energy transitions in ports, cities, and territories.
Further details will be shared soon.
ONGOING EVENTS
Call for sound contributions – Port City Soundscapes
Our ongoing call for Port City Sound contributions remains open. We are collecting live sound recordings from port–cities around the world, including voices, machines, waterscapes, and everyday atmospheres, to build an open, collective soundscape archive.
Contributions are welcome from all members and from your local collaborators, so please feel free to share the call widely. You can contribute by:
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Uploading your audio or recording here
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Or simply reply / mention us with the song name, and we’ll add it to our public Spotify playlist.
More information is available here
GRANT
Call for Grant Awards is Closed
The recent PACT Open Call for Grant Awards has now closed. Applications were accepted from 28 March to 25 April 2026, with funded activities scheduled to take place between 3 May and 20 September 2026.
The submitted applications are now being evaluated by the Grant Awarding Committee, and applicants will be notified between 26 April and 3 May 2026. We would like to thank all members who applied and contributed to this round of grant opportunities.
Through Short-Term Scientific Missions and conference grants, PACT continues to support research mobility, knowledge exchange, dissemination, and collaboration across the Action. Further updates will be shared once the grant holders have been announced.
For any questions, please contact the Grant Awarding coordinators:
Hadi El Hage (h.elhage@tudelft.nl)
Lucijan Černelić (lucijan.cernelic@urbanex.hr)
NEWS
CA23138 PACT at the World Planning Schools Congress 2026
PACT will be represented at the 6th World Planning Schools Congress (WPSC) 2026, taking place in Helsinki and Espoo, Finland, from 29 June to 3 July 2026. The congress, held under the theme “Peripheral Visions: Rethinking Planning,” will bring together planning scholars, educators, researchers, and practitioners from around the world to reflect on the changing roles, challenges, and futures of planning.
As part of the congress programme, PACT will contribute to a roundtable convened by Karolina Krośnicka, Silvia Sivo, and Eliane Schmid, together with other PACT members as speakers. The roundtable will provide an opportunity to present and discuss PACT’s work with an international planning audience, highlighting the Action’s broader objectives around port-city territories, inclusive energy transition, collaborative research, stakeholder engagement, and knowledge exchange.
PACT will be represented at the 6th World Planning Schools Congress (WPSC) 2026, taking place in Helsinki and Espoo, Finland, from 29 June to 3 July 2026. The congress, held under the theme “Peripheral Visions: Rethinking Planning,” will bring together planning scholars, educators, researchers, and practitioners from around the world to reflect on the changing roles, challenges, and futures of planning.
As part of the congress programme, PACT will contribute to a roundtable convened by Karolina Krośnicka, Silvia Sivo, and Eliane Schmid, together with other PACT members as speakers. The roundtable will provide an opportunity to present and discuss PACT’s work with an international planning audience, highlighting the Action’s broader objectives around port-city territories, inclusive energy transition, collaborative research, stakeholder engagement, and knowledge exchange.
Book Launch from PortCityFutures, "My Port City Rotterdam: Navigating Identities in a Sea of Cultures"
Our working group members Yi Kwan Chan and Maurice Jansen have just
published My Port City Rotterdam: Navigating Identities in a Sea of Cultures—a new open-access book from PortCityFutures.
The book invites readers to explore Rotterdam through 18 walking routes,
each inspired by the life story of someone navigating the space between
arrival and belonging in the port city. Together, these stories show how diverse lives, memories, and encounters shape Rotterdam’s cultural fabric
and its evolving relationship with the port.
This publication offers a valuable human-centred perspective on port-city relations, complementing PACT’s wider interest in port-city territories,
transition processes, and the social, spatial, and cultural dimensions of
transformation.
The open-access book is developed within PortCityFutures’ Human-Centred Port-City Transition research group, and supported by the Resilient Delta Initiative.
The book is available for free download via the PortCityFutures website. For physical copies, please contact Maurice Jansen (m.jansen@ese.eur.nl) or Yi Kwan Chan (y.k.chan@fsw.leidenuniv.nl).
About PortCityFutures
PortCityFutures is an interdisciplinary research centre that focuses on the
socio-cultural, historical and designerly dimensions of complex spaces
characterized by water and land, of which port city territories are a key node.
It promotes rebalancing technological and economic values with societal and environmental values, towards systems change and more just sustainable futures. Visit their website here
This newsletter is brought to you by Science Communication Team.
Our goal and responsibility is to reach maximum public outreach and engagement. We are:
· Ryan Holmes - Science Communication Coordinator
· Eliane Schmid - Head of Communications Team
· Ilmian Sujatmiko - Communications Team Member
· Sezi Karayazi - Communications Team Member