Inauguration of a new UNESCO Chair dedicated to living heritage and sustainable development. © Arnaud Roelofsz, 2019

Launched in 1992, the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme promotes international academic cooperation to enhance institutional capacities through knowledge sharing and collaborative work. The programme supports the establishment of UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks in key priority areas related to UNESCO’s fields of competence, such as culture. Today, the Programme involves over 650 institutions in 124 countries and currently 80 Chairs/UNITWIN Networks belong to Culture Sector.

In many instances, the networks and chairs serve as thinktanks and bridgebuilders between academia, civil society, local communities, research and policy-making. For example, the UNESCO Chair for Research on Intangible Cultural Heritage and Cultural Diversity of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) recently acted as the lead faculty to develop the content of the MOOC on living heritage and sustainable development.

The Secretariat is pleased to witness the inauguration of a new UNESCO Chair dedicated to living heritage and sustainable development at the Cergy Paris Université, France, with the support of the French Ministry of Culture. The UNESCO Chair is held by Chiara Bortolotto, an anthropologist whose research has predominantly tackled the 2003 Convention and contemporary issues around intangible cultural heritage. Thematic lectures are already starting to nourish the program of this new UNESCO Chair. A conference is taking place on Friday 8th April to celebrate this new addition to the academic network dedicated to the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage. It is an occasion to reflect on the relationship between living heritage and sustainable development, and to spark interest in the academic field and beyond.