University UNESCO Chairs - Bordeaux Montaigne University v1.2

University UNESCO Chairs
3 UNESCO Chairs in Bordeaux Montaigne University

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Launched in 1992, the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme promotes international cooperation and networking among universities to strengthen institutional capacities through knowledge sharing and collaborative work.

A UNESCO Chair is an international scientific label.

It is created under the supervision of the university and placed under the responsibility of the project leader on the basis of an agreement signed between the university and UNESCO.

It includes training, research activities and provides a framework for sharing information in areas of expertise. It is the backbone of high-level conferences, in particular through the visiting scholars it hosts and the conferences it organizes.

UNESCO Chair for the Training of Sustainable Development professionals

Created in 2001, this Chair is a network of partners dedicated to the training of professionals in sustainable development and international solidarity. It brings together universities, NGOs, training organizations and companies from several countries: Algeria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Spain, France, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia.

It is part of the network of French UNESCO Chairs for "Training and Sustainable Development" which implements cooperation with countries in the South in the fields of training and research in accordance with the Millennium Development Goals defined by UNESCO.

Transfer of knowledge and expertise

Its purpose is to provide educational engineering for the training of middle managers in development and international solidarity. To this end, it seeks to capitalize on a number of pedagogical experiences conducted in universities, training organizations and partner associations to transfer knowledge and know-how from North to South, but also from South to North and from South to South.

A professional degree under the UNESCO Chair label

It supports a professional degree in "Support and coordination of international solidarity and sustainable development projects", approved in 2002 and created at the Institut of Planning, Tourism and Urban Development of Bordeaux Montaigne University.

At the same time, it carries out research on development actors and their interactions in collaboration with its partners, both academic and professional. It has already organized several international symposia, set up training programmes and published various books.

More information
Elisabeth Hofmann (Elisabeth.Hofmann @ u-bordeaux-montaigne.fr), Chair supervisor
Chair's website

UNESCO Chair for Emerging practices in technologies and communication for development

Created in 2014, this chair operates within the Orbicom network, a reference network for UNESCO Chairs in Communication and builds on the tradition of the MICA laboratory at Bordeaux Montaigne University, renowned for its work on media in Africa.

The objectives of the Chair for Emerging Practices in Technologies and Communication for Development are in line with the Millennium Development Goals and reflect the work carried out at the World Summit on the Information Society, while referring to the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.

Africa, Asia, Latin America and their relations with the rest of the world are at the heart of the Chair's work.

Four Specific Objectives

  • Study emerging ICT practices in development
  • Support development actions through capacity building
  • Serve as a laboratory of ideas and a forum for mediation between academia, civil society, local communities and political decision-makers
  • Enhance the work of researchers in the South by creating a scientific journal. Published on Revue.org, it will allow everyone to produce articles in their own language. Articles in French will be available alongside texts in English, Portuguese or Swahili

The Chair develops sustained partnerships with universities and research laboratories in other countries - mainly in the South but not exclusively - associations and companies. It also intends to continue its cooperation with the Grenoble, Strasbourg, Sorbonne Nouvelle, Unesco-Bell Canada Chair...

More information
Alain Kiyindou (alain.kiyindou @ u-bordeaux-montaigne.fr), Chair supervisor
Chair's website

UNESCO Chair for Non-violent social intervention

Winner of the 2022 call, ISNoV is a multidisciplinary Chair in Human & Social Sciences. The initiative aims at gathering knowledge and know-how from academic research and training professionals, from workers in social areas and from experts in non-violence subjects (or similar approaches).

Nowadays, the social sphere (or social intervention) must deal with many situations or forms of violence. The Chair’s goal is to answer these issues in order to identify and analyse the practices and the scope for action and to reduce the process of violence.

Supported by Bordeaux Montaigne University, ISNoV brings together 14 countries that includes around 50 institutional partners and a multidisciplinary College composed of more than 100 members in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Middle-East.

This measure does not only award diplomas that can be adapted to various contexts. It also draws a relevant international network based on the “action-research” to fight the different types of violence and to diffuse operational knowledge and know-how.

Within this scope, a process of exchange and hybridization regarding experience and academic feedback is expected to develop from cultural differences. This exchange should give the social stakeholders means to better adapt or change their professional practices and activities, implying the decrease of certain violent processes as a consequence. More humanizing measures should rise from this process: a double movement covered by the title of this UNESCO Chair.

Main objectives

  • Lead research works and action-research
  • Elaborate an innovative and multidisciplinary training programme for higher education levels
  • Establish and build jointly workshops, seminars, international/national/local/ conferences and meetings, symposia and other publications
  • Create a community of practices and experiments to face violence

More information
Pascal Tozzi (pascal.tozzi @ iut.u-bordeaux-montaigne.fr) (IUT Bordeaux Montaigne – UMR CNRS Passages), Chair supervisor
ISNoV chair's website

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