December University announces new UNESCO Chair in Children, Youth, and Civic Engagement

 Professor John Canavan appointed to globally recognised research role

 Professor John Canavan has been announced as the new UNESCO Chair in Children, Youth, and Civic Engagement at University of Galway.

 The appointment has been marked with an inaugural lecture by Professor Canavan, exploring how society can advance knowledge and practice to improve the lives of children and young people. 

 The event showcased the work of the team of researchers working with the UNESCO Chair, as well as the values and guiding principles which underpin their work, and to demonstrate their contribution to the mission of UNESCO and the wider United Nations system. 

 Professor Canavan is a Personal Professor in Political Science and Sociology and the Director of the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre, which he co-founded at University of Galway in 2007. 
The UNESCO Chair programme in Children, Youth and Civic Engagement at the University was established in 2008 and is delivered through the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre. 

Professor Canavan said: “My vision for the UNESCO Chair is to make a significant contribution to global policy and practice in the field of children and young people’s wellbeing, through our team’s scientific research and evaluation programme focused on Empathy, Mentoring, Youth as Researchers, Family Support and Alternative Education.”

 The 2025-2029 programme for the UNESCO Chair in Children, Youth and Civic Engagement focuses on five thematic areas - youth empathy and civic engagement; youth mentoring; family support; youth engagement and participation; and alternative education.

It also includes a number of objectives:

• to enhance and further develop existing work focusing on: Empathy/Social and Emotional Learning; Youth Mentoring; Alternative Education; and the Youth as Researchers (YAR) model.
• to develop a UNESCO position on family support as a policy paradigm that supports parents and wider family in meeting the needs of excluded children and young people in educational and inter-sectoral settings; and
• to embed policy and systems change as a cross-cutting theme across all work programmes seeking more effective bridging of policy and research worlds for greater societal impact.

The former UNESCO Chair, Professor Pat Dolan, who held the role from 2008 to 2024, has been appointed Professor Emeritus at University of Galway.

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