The UNESCO Chair in Community-Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education (CBRSRHE) was established in 2012 under the Co-Chairs, Dr. Budd L Hall and Dr. Rajesh Tandon. Based at the University of Victoria (UVic), Canada, and the PRIA, New Delhi, India, the Chair is a partnership between a University in the Global North and a practitioner institution in the Global South, with a focus on community-based research (CBR) and socially responsible higher education.

Although formally set up in 2012, the Chair’s establishment was a culmination of the collaborative efforts between Dr. Tandon and Dr. Hall dating back to the 1970s. Rooted in the International Participatory Research Network, this collaboration laid the foundation for recognizing knowledge generation beyond formal higher education.

Over the years, the Chair has played a vital role in strengthening collaboration between the Higher Education arm of UNESCO, the Global University Network for Innovation (GUNI), the Global Alliance on Community-Engaged Research (GACER) and other regional and global networks. It continues to champion knowledge co-creation through partnerships among universities (academics), communities (civil society) and governments (policy makers).

The Chair’s efforts at mobilizing socially responsible higher education through community-based participatory research have helped build new capacities and find solutions to sustainability issues, social and economic disparities, cultural exclusion, and conflict. It has also created awareness among policy makers, while enhancing scholarship of engagement and of socially responsible higher education.

Learn more about the History of the UNESCO Chair