UNESCO Chair Annual Reports

This report details the progress on key activities and engagements in the first year of the UNESCO Chair in Equity, Social Justice and Higher Education (2023). The Chair is situated within the Centre of Excellence for Equity in Higher Education (CEEHE) at the University of Newcastle in Australia.

The program of work set out by the Chair builds upon CEEHE’s foundational ‘praxis-based approach’ and multi-dimensional social justice framework. This framework draws on critical social justice theories and underpins the conceptualisation and design of projects and activities.

The work of the Chair is currently focussed in Australia, Ghana and the United Kingdom, with engagements extending networks globally.

The University of Newcastle is proud to host the UNESCO Chair in Equity, Social Justice and Higher Education. The Chair builds on the internationally recognised framework of the Centre of Excellence for Equity in Higher Education, and the strong history of supporting equity at the University of Newcastle. The award of the Chair has provided an exciting opportunity to expand key equity projects, and collaborate with colleagues in Ghana and around the world...

Higher Education at the University of Newcastle, Australia – a role I take very seriously in its potential to mobilise higher education as a force for transformative equity and social justice. I am deeply committed to advancing UNESCO’s call for higher education to address the urgent issues of our times. It is my strong position that our sustainable futures demand that we challenge systems of exclusion to ensure the parity of participation of communities regularly excluded from generating the strategies required for social, planetary, cultural and personal well-being. Higher education is central to this...

In reponse to research conducted with student victim-survivors and in collaboration with community agencies the team has begun development of a Gender Justice Hub. The Hub will connect research with policy and practice and promote the role of higher education in addressing the global issue of gender-based violence...

This project aims to build better understanding of the challenges, dilemmas and opportunities of equity policies and practices in the diverse contexts of several STEM disciplines. The project draws on pedagogical methodologies with the aim to feed the research insights directly into professional development workshops...

A key element of the UNESCO Chair is its ongoing commitment to building research capacity via communities of praxis and the redistribution of resources. Through the UNESCO Chair we were able to offer 3 fully funded PhD scholarships with the support of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation and the Office of Graduate Studies...