Prof. Vinod Pavarala, Senior Professor of Communication and UNESCO Chair on Community Media, University of Hyderabad, has successfully completed his month-long stint (May-June 2022) at Loughborough University, UK, as part of the DUO-India Faculty Exchange Fellowship that he had been awarded along with Prof. Jo Tacchi of Loughborough University. Prof. Tacchi had completed her visit to the University of Hyderabad during February-March 2020.
During his visit, Prof. Pavarala was hosted by the Institute for Media and Creative Industries (IMCI) at the London campus of Loughborough University. He has been appointed to the International Advisory Board for the new master’s programmes in International Development and Global Communication & Social Change launched by the University.
Besides attending the meeting of the Advisory Board, Prof. Pavarala was invited to contribute to the curriculum development workshop organized by IMCI during his time there. He delivered two lectures, one at the IMCI and the other at the Centre for Research in Communication and Culture, Loughborough campus, on “Community Radio for Social Change” and “Negotiating the Political in the Indian Community Radio Sphere,” respectively.
Prof. Pavarala has also visited community radio stations in the UK in places like Sheffield and Battersea (a neighbourhood of London) and held discussions with the leadership team of the Community Media Association of UK and with the founder of the Media Trust and the Community TV channel (now called Together TV) on the state of community radio in the UK.
He also interacted with UK-based researchers in community media, including those from Bournemouth University and University of Bedfordshire.
While in Sheffield, visiting Sheffield Live, a community radio station and a local TV channel, an interview with Prof. Pavarala was broadcast: https://web.sheffieldlive.org/vital-role-for-community-radio-says-unesco-chair-during-sheffield-visit/.
In a comment to the Loughborough University’s online news report (https://www.lborolondon.ac.uk/news-events/news/2022/professor-vinod-pavarala-visits-loughborough-university-london/) on Prof. Pavarala’s visit, Prof. Jo Tacchi said, “It is wonderful to have Vinod Pavarala with us for a month here at the Institute for Media and Creative Industries, where we have a strong research interest in communication and social change. Professor Pavarala is a leading scholar in this field, and I had the pleasure of spending a month in his Department of Communication at the University of Hyderabad just before the first lockdown.”
About University of Hyderabad
The University of Hyderabad is an institute of post-graduate teaching and research. The school was established by an act of the Parliament of India in 1974 as a Central University. Over the years, it has emerged as a top ranking institute of higher education and research in India. The university also offers courses under distance learning programs. The university is a member of the ‘Association of Indian Universities’ (AIU), the ‘Association of Commonwealth Universities’ (ACU) and ‘International Council for Distance Education’. An Academic Staff College has been functioning on the university campus since 1988 under the UGC scheme for improving the standards of teaching in colleges and universities. The college organizes orientation and refresher courses for college and university teachers.
For more information, visit: University Of Hyderabad