Canadian Launch Of International Chair In Community-Based Research

Dr. Budd Hall of the University of Victoria has been jointly appointed as a UNESCO Chair in Community-Based Research and Social Responsibility. Hall, professor of community development in the UVic School of Public Administration, shares the international chair with Dr. Rajesh Tandon, a UVic honorary degree recipient and president of the Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) based in India.

The UNESCO Chair is the only one in the world jointly hosted by a northern university and a southern non-governmental organization. The focus of the chair’s program is to build research capacity in the field of community-based research and social responsibility in higher education in the Global South.

“A strong commitment to civic engagement is one of the foundations of the University of Victoria,” says UVic President David Turpin. “The new UNESCO Chair builds on the university’s leadership in community-based research and on the outstanding work by Budd Hall and Rajesh Tandon.”

For almost 40 years, Hall has been engaged in community-based adult learning and participatory research in Canada and internationally. He was the founding director of UVic’s Office of Community-based Research and is currently the secretary of the Global Alliance of Community Engaged Research (GACER).

“Our work is framed within a context of knowledge democracy, a concept that calls for recognition of diverse ways of knowing, including artistic, spiritual and collective forms,” says Hall. “We note as well that the knowledge of Indigenous peoples worldwide have yet to be taken fully into the canon of our universities.”

The Indian launch of the UNESCO Chair in Community-Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education took place on the campus of Jamia Milia Islamia in New Delhi, India on Dec. 10, 2012.

Media opportunity
Members of the media are invited to attend a celebration of the Canadian launch of the UNESCO Chair in Community-Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education on Monday, Mar. 4, 2013 at 3 p.m. at the University of Victoria’s First Peoples House.

This special 50th anniversary event will feature speakers President David Turpin; Vice-President Academic and Provost Reeta Tremblay; Dr. Budd Hall, Co-Chair, UNESCO Chair in Community-based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education; Dr. Rajesh Tandon, Co-Chair, UNESCO Chair in Community-based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education; Dean Mary Ellen Purkis, Faculty of Human and Social Development; representatives of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO; and Sinéad Charbonneau, student from the Métis Nation.

A related day-long symposium on community-based research will take place at the University of Victoria on Mar. 5 entitled “Knowledge Democracy: Decolonizing the University through Community Partnerships.” For more information visit www.uvic.ca/hsd/publicadmin/programs/graduate/maInCommunityDevelopment/.
 

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