Dr Rajesh Tandon served as a panellist at the "The Global Network of UNESCO Chairs and UNESCO 80: Dialogue with the Director-General of UNESCO, Professor Khaled El-Enany

The UNESCO Chair in Community- Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education was invited as one of only five UNESCO Chairs globally to participate in a high-level panel at “The Global Network of UNESCO Chairs and UNESCO@80: Dialogue with the Director-General of UNESCO.” The dialogue provided a valuable space for reflection on the role of UNESCO Chairs as a powerful global intellectual and moral resource.

In his opening remarks, Professor Khaled El-Enany, Director- General of UNESCO, underscored the significance of UNESCO Chairs as a collective intellectual asset for advancing UNESCO’s mandate in a rapidly changing and uncertain world.

During the panel, Co-Chair Dr Rajesh Tandon reflected on the journey of our Chair, which began in 2012 as the first-ever co-chair arrangement, jointly anchored at the University of Victoria, Canada (under the leadership of Professor Budd Hall), and Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), India. Now in its fourth term, the Chair has continued to work in close alignment with UNESCO’s priorities, translating global commitments into grounded and meaningful action.

Over the years, this work has included contributions to two global reports with the Global University Network for Innovation (GUNi), focusing on the role of universities in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals and in enabling knowledge for social change. The Chair also played a significant role in shaping the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science, co-convening eleven global dialogues that foregrounded public engagement as well as community-based and Indigenous knowledges.

The Chairs' collaboration with UNESCO colleagues has led to a series of workshops and a dedicated session on Indigenous Knowledge and Higher Education at the Third World Higher Education Conference in 2022. The Chair also actively supported the UNESCO–African Union Commission Conference on Transforming Knowledge for Africa’s Future, held in Addis Ababa in 2024.

At the core of the Chair’s ongoing work is the Knowledge-for-Change (K4C) Global Consortium, which now comprises 30 partnership hubs across 18 countries. Through this network, the Chair works with students, researchers, and practitioners to strengthen capacities in Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) and to generate context-specific, actionable knowledge. Alongside this, the Chair has contributed to shaping national policies and programmes related to the social responsibility of higher education across multiple contexts.

Dr Tandon also reflected on how UNESCO might further harness the collective potential of its Chairs. He acknowledged the positive role of UNESCO’s Futures of Learning and Innovation team in strengthening engagement, and proposed two key priorities: more active facilitation of collaboration among Chairs working on shared thematic areas, both globally and regionally; and greater support in addressing the shortage of small, flexible resources, particularly for Chairs in the Global South, through the convening of aligned funders and matchmaking processes. He concluded by posing a timely and resonant question to the group: in these uncertain and dangerous times, how can UNESCO Chairs collectively and more boldly assert UNESCO’s mandate for peace?

The UNESCO Chair CBRSR looks forward to continuing our collective efforts to democratize knowledge, reconnect higher education with society, and contribute to more just, peaceful, and inclusive futures.