Rajesh Tandon

Rajesh Tandon is a leader and practitioner of participatory research and development and is known as one of the founding fathers of Participatory Research. He also holds the UNESCO Co-Chair in Community Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education. His work in this field has focused on relationships between the researcher and researched subjects. In order to bridge the divide between the world of practice and the world of research, Rajesh has undertaken a number of initiatives to promote engagement of institutions of higher education with civil society and local communities to foster knowledge generation and mutual learning.

He founded the Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) in 1982, a voluntary organization providing support to grassroots initiatives in South Asia, and continues to be its Chief Functionary. He is the chairperson of the Global Alliance on Community-Engaged Research (GACER), and in 2011 he was inducted into the International Adult and Continuing Education (IACE) Hall of Fame. Dr Tandon has authored more than 100 articles, a dozen books and numerous training manuals on themes such as democratic governance, civic engagement, civil society, governance and management of NGOs, participatory research and people-centred development.