The PADST Summer School 2025 was successfully held in Leuven, bringing together early-career researchers, leading academics, and EU and local policymakers to reflect on the challenges and opportunities of the green and digital transitions in public administration.
The third PADST Summer School took place in Leuven from 16–18 June 2025, focusing on the present and future of the green and digital transitions and on strengthening networks between early-career researchers, academics, and practitioners. The Summer School’s primary aim was to build new frameworks for understanding the twin transitions through the lens of public administration capabilities.
The Leuven Summer School was the final event in the PADST series, following earlier editions hosted in Tallinn and London. Its discussions highlighted the pivotal role of public administration at different levels in facilitating the green and digital transitions.
Over three days, participants engaged in intensive discussions on themes including digital sovereignty, energy transition, artificial intelligence, urban innovation, the green transition, and the climate emergency.
We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of the invited speakers:
Prof. Joep Crompvoets (KU Leuven Public Governance Institute) and Prof. Veiko Lember (Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance, TalTech) – for chairing the event and guiding the PADST vision
Prof. Paul Timmers (KU Leuven & European University Cyprus) – on digital sovereignty in the EU
Eero Ailio (DG ENER, European Commission) – on local governance in the energy transition
Maive Rute (DG GROW, European Commission) – on the Clean Industrial Deal
Andrea Halmos (DG ENV, European Commission) – on digital transformation and the green transition
Gert-Jan Put (KU Leuven LUSI) – on city-university “twin” collaborations
Prof. Vasilis Kostakis (TalTech) – on energy commons and sustainability
Laura Dens (City of Leuven) – on the URBREATH project
Prof. Raluca Moldovan (Babeș-Bolyai University) – on the geopolitical implications of the green transition
Wouter Vandevelde (KU Leuven) – on responsible use of generative AI in research
Hans Arents (Flanders Digital Agency) – on AI in the green transition
Katrien Rycken (Leuven 2030) – on ecosystem governance for climate-neutral cities
Dr. Peeter Vihma (TalTech) – on aligning digital and sustainability regimes
We also wish to highlight the contributions of the participating early-career researchers, including Dominik Beckers, Jinxiao Luo, Dika Fadmastuti, Palwasha Etebari, Mathias Eistrup, Nataliia Vyniarchuk, and Marten Knol, who actively shared their research insights.
The event was organized by the KU Leuven Public Governance Institute, with coordination from Joep Crompvoets, Stefan Dedovic, and Arthur Meert. The PADST initiative continues to benefit from the support of Erna Ruijer, Albert Meijer (Utrecht University), Rainer Kattel (UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose), Erkki Karo, Julii Selianko, and Wolfgang Drechsler (Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance, TalTech).
The PADST Summer School 2025 provided a valuable forum for dialogue between research, policy, and practice on the twin transitions, reinforcing the role of public administration in addressing societal challenges.
