Rajesh Tandon

In 1982, Dr. Rajesh Tandon found the Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA). PRIA is known for promoting and practicing participatory research, a methodology that values experiential knowledge and practitioner’s wisdom in addition to the more formal knowledge available in academia and books.

Rajesh was introduced to participatory research in 1977 while doing his doctoral research in a very rural farming community in India. Through that experience, he began to understand the importance of listening to and learning from the lived experiences of marginalized people who are usually excluded from any research process.

Now, 40 years later, Rajesh continues as the Chief Functionary of PRIA. To help bridge the divide between the world of practice and the world of research, Dr. Tandon 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. This work found further support when he was appointed in 2012 as UNESCO Co-Chair in Community Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education (www.unsecochair-cbrsr.org). The UNESCO Chair grows out of and supports UNESCO’s global lead to play a key role in assisting countries to build knowledge societies. Dr. Tandon serves as chairperson of the Global Alliance on Community-Engaged Research (GACER) network, which facilitates the sharing of knowledge and information worldwide to further community-based research.

To learn more about Dr, Tandon and his work, see
https://www.pria.org/about-rajesh-tandon-12-2-0