Harvesting Sustainability: Ecologies of Knowledge Democracy

The Aspen Global Change Institute (AGCI) proudly presents this Walter Orr Roberts Memorial Public Lecture, presented by Dr. Rajesh Tandon (Participatory Research Institute in Asia). The presentation will be followed by a live question and answer session with Dr. Tandon.

The monoculture of knowledge and scientific tradition tends to ignore, devalue, silence and exclude multiple knowledge cultures and practices. Encouraging plurality of ways of producing, validating and sharing knowledge supports inclusive, contextual and actionable knowledge solutions for deepening sustainability. Come, listen to such stories from around the world!

Dr. Rajesh Tandon is an internationally acclaimed leader and practitioner of participatory research and development. He is Founder-President of Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), a global centre for participatory research & training. He is also Co-Chair of the UNESCO Chair in Community Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education since 2012. Dr. Tandon also heads the Forum for Indian Development Corporation (FIDC) as its Chairperson. He is Chairperson of the Committee to carry out appraisal of the UGC scheme under ‘Unnat Bharat Abhiyan’ and Member of Expert Group for Development of Educational Framework for Global Citizenship in Higher Education Institutions, constituted by the University Grants Commission. Engineering in Electronics from IIT, Kanpur, MBA from IIM Calcutta and PhD in Management from Case Western Reserve University, USA. Dr. Tandon has served on numerous Expert Committees of Government of India, University Grants Commission of India, United Nations, Commonwealth Foundation and World Bank.

Dr. Tandon left his teaching job at IIM Calcutta to support & champion the cause of building organizations and capacities of the marginalized through their knowledge, learning and empowerment. A pioneer of participatory research, Dr. Tandon has given new meaning to academic research by redefining the relationship between the researcher and the researched. He has been contributing to the emergence of several local, national and international initiatives to promote authentic and participatory development of societies. Dr. Tandon has taught courses on participatory research & democratic governance in South Africa, UK, Canada, Italy, USA, Colombia, Malaysia, Philippines and Cambodia, in addition to several universities in India. He has written more than 100 books, articles and training manuals on participatory research, social responsibility of higher education, civil society & local governance.