UNESCO Chair in Equity, Social Justice and Higher Education
The UNESCO Chair in Equity, Social Justice and Higher Education, led by Professor Penny Jane Burke, aims to effect transformative equity by mobilising higher education as a vehicle for social justice, addressing and challenging the conditions that undermine progress toward reducing inequalities, gender equality and quality education for all.
The collaborative work of the Chair will:
- identify intersecting inequalities and combat persistent injustices that impede transformative equity
- develop new research and programmatic strategies for transformative equity, drawing from cutting edge theories and praxis from the field; and
- promote redistribution of higher education resources and opportunities to marginalised groups and communities.
We are living in a time of widening inequalities, environmental degradation and social exclusion. Higher education has a key role to play in challenging the multiple injustices that severely undermine the capacity for generating sustainable futures and for personal and social flourishing and well-being...
Through the UNESCO Chair, we will collaboratively generate new knowledge and practice that has the power to address the ongoing inequalities that impede fair, equitable and sustainable futures for all." - Professor Penny Jane Burke
UNESCO Chair Report 2023
Each year, the UNESCO Chair in Equity, Social Justice and Higher Education will provide a summary report on progress within each of the projects and engagements across the Sector and community. In our first year, a key focus has been our work in the context of the social epidemic of gender-based violence (GBV), a problem of massive proportions that profoundly undermines gender equality and higher education access, participation and equity. Other areas of focus have included collaborative work to Advance Equity in the Sciences, Technologies, Engineering and Mathematics, developing new evaluation frameworks for equity and social justice, generating a new Graduate Certificate in Professional Equity and Inclusion and building capacity of the future leaders for transformative equity praxis in our UNESCO Chair scholars.
Transformative Reimagining: Sustainable Higher Education for Equity and Social Justice
Professor Penny Jane Burke gave a keynote address at the Universities Australia Solutions Summit on 26 February 2024.
The keynote presented by Professor Penny Jane Burke at the Universities Australia Solutions Summit is published here.
Commencing the work of the UNESCO Chair - Looking Ahead Event
Looking Ahead Lecture: Keynote
UNESCO Chair Professor Penny Jane Burke delivered a powerful address on the role of higher education in addressing inequalities.
Looking Ahead Lecture: In Conversation
Following the keynote, Professor Penny Jane Burke was joined by ABC Newcastle's Kia Handley. She spoke further about the projects of the UNESCO Chair and her own experiences of returning to education.
Collaboration and co-design
The UNESCO Chair in Equity, Social Justice and Higher Education will build on the work of the Centre of Excellence for Equity in Higher Education and our partners and collaborators throughout the academy and broader community, in Ghana, England, South Africa and across the world.
The Chair represents a team who will work closely together to co-deliver key streams of activity. An Expert Advisory Group will support the strategic oversight and evaluation of the program of work and brings together expertise across thematic areas of equity in higher education, gender equality, educational leadership, and decolonisation.
We look forward to sharing further details of collaboration as the work of the Chair progresses.
UNESCO Chair Partner Dr Gifty Gyamera
Dr Gyamera responds to the news of the UNESCO Chair in Equity, Social Justice and Higher Education award.
The program of work
Key activities for the Chair in Equity, Social Justice and Higher Education include:
- the generation of new knowledge on the impact of gender-based violence (GBV) on higher education access and participation, to produce specialised post-crisis strategies to support GBV victim-survivors. This stream of work engages researcher and practitioner teams across Australia and Ghana
- methodological innovations for rethinking equity structures for impact in and through higher education and to embed equity within university functions. This work engages researcher and practitioner teams examining navigational student support and gender equity in the sciences, with an initial focus on Australia, Ghana and England
- building international communities of praxis through peer-mentoring programs dedicated to the collective formulation of strategies for achieving gender parity in and beyond higher education, and formal education programs including PhD Scholarships and a Graduate Certificate of Professional Equity and Inclusion.
UNESCO Chair Penny Jane Burke and Project Partner Julia Coffey
Professor Penny Jane Burke and Dr Julia Coffey discuss the next steps for the Understanding the impact of gender-based violence on access to and participation in higher education project.
Launched in 1992, the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme, which involves over 850 institutions in 117 countries, promotes international inter-university cooperation and networking to enhance institutional capacities through knowledge sharing and collaborative work.
Collaborate and contribute
Contact us to see how we may be able to partner together
Image credit: Penny Jane Burke in front of video artwork Freefall 2021 by Izabella Pluta at the Nihilartikel Exhibiton, University Galleries, Newcastle. Photographed by Edwina Richards.
Contact CEEHE
- Phone: +61 2 4913 8199
- Email: ceehe@newcastle.edu.au
Banner image by Louis Ndagijimana, (detail) 2021.
The work was developed in a staff and student art workshop at the Centre of Excellence for Equity in Higher Education.
The University of Newcastle acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands within our footprint areas: Awabakal, Darkinjung, Biripai, Worimi, Wonnarua, and Eora Nations. We also pay respect to the wisdom of our Elders past and present.