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Research, Policy & Global Development

Bridging the Gap Between the Researcher and the Community in India

Photo: ® PRIA (Society for Participatory Research In Asia)
Date
20/09/2017
Hour
12.30 h
Place
Aula 4, Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut (Campus Clínic), Universitat de Barcelona
(Casanova, 143) Barcelona
Speakers
Dr Rajesh Tandon (PRIA & UNESCO)

Dr. Rajesh Tandon, founder and president of PRIA & UNESCO Co-Chair on Community Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education, will offer an open seminar entitled "Bridging the Gap Between the Researcher and the Community in India: PRIA’s Engagements in Promoting Community Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Educational Institutions".

He is an internationally acclaimed leader and practitioner of participatory research and development. He founded the Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), a voluntary organisation providing support to grass roots initiatives in South Asia, twenty-five years ago, and has been its Chief Functionary since 1982.

PRIA, since its inception in the year 1982, has been engaging with the academia via multitude of interventions, in an attempt to bring practitioner knowledge and academic expertise together on one platform. In order to bridge the divide between the world of practice and the world of academe, it has undertaken number of initiatives to promote engagement between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and local communities for fostering knowledge generation and mutual learning. These engagements have been in the form of supporting student internships, collaborative research, joint conferences along with universities, designing new courses in partnership with academia etc.

By doing this, PRIA has helped HEIs realize their social responsibility towards community needs and aspirations. Therefore, through extensive networking with an array of HEIs in India, PRIA has been instrumental in bringing universities closer to communities, by assuming varied roles in the process, such as that of a facilitator, supporter, and partner.