08/12/2026
Global Launch of the Knowledge Democracy and Participatory Research Open Access Repository
How do we preserve the histories of knowledge that have been created with communities, rather than simply about them?
The Unesco Chair in CBR & Social Responsibility in Higher Education is pleased to announce the launch of the "Knowledge Democracy and Participatory Research Open Access Repository". This is digital platform bringing together the rich global history and contemporary practice of Participatory Research. It is a collection of foundational documents on Knowledge Democracy.
Over five decades, Participatory Research has been shaped by scholars, practitioners, communities, activists, and social movements across the world. Yet much of this history remains scattered across personal archives, institutional libraries, rare publications, reports, photographs, and audio-visual materials.
This repository is an effort to bring these histories together and make them openly accessible.
From Africa to Asia, Europe to Oceania, Latin America and beyond, the repository brings together diverse voices, experiences, and traditions of participatory knowledge-making. It is a space where histories can meet, conversations can continue, and knowledge can travel across generations and borders.
But this is not simply an archive. It is envisioned as a living and evolving knowledge commons — one that will continue to grow as scholars, practitioners, institutions, and communities contribute new materials, histories, and perspectives.
Join us for the online launch
Date: 26 August 2026
Time: 7:30 PM IST | 2:00 PM UTC
Registration: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_K73U4anmSY2y7YdbcI-lfA #/registration
We invite scholars, practitioners, students, community researchers, institutions, and everyone interested in knowledge democracy and Participatory Research to join us as we open this collective resource to the world.
You can learn more about the repository here:https://unescochair-cbrsr.org/uploads/article_category/1784807690_Knowledge_Democracy_and_Participatory_Research_Open_Access_Repository_Concept_Note.pdf