THE UNIVERSITY of Newcastle's Professor Penny Jane Burke has been appointed a UNESCO Chair, which will see her work to improve the lives of marginalised groups across the globe and strengthen ties between the Hunter and Ghana.
Professor Burke is the director of UON's Centre of Excellence for Equity in Higher Education (CEEHE). She has been appointed a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) Chair in Equity, Social Justice and Higher Education.
A UNESCO Chair is a project and a team at a university or higher education or research institution that partners with UNESCO to advance knowledge and practice in an area that is a priority for both the institution and UNESCO.
"The research we have been undertaking at CEEHE aims to mobilise higher education to address the challenging conditions that undermine progress toward reducing inequalities, gender equality and quality education for all," Professor Burke said.
"As a UNESCO Chair, we will have the collaborative networks and resources to build on the work we have already done to make a real difference to communities facing social, cultural, political and environmental injustice.
"We will be able to challenge the concrete barriers and insidious inequalities that greatly undermine access to and participation in higher education and significantly improve the life chances of communities navigating social inequality, including victim-survivors of gender-based violence."
Professor Burke will help co-create a Newcastle-Ghana Best Practice Hub to understand how gender-based violence impacts access to higher education and develop the necessary resources and mechanisms to alleviate its damaging effects.
A connected peer mentoring program will work on strategies to improve gender equity in and beyond higher education.
Three PhD fellowships will be funded through UON, including an international student from Ghana to work with Professor Burke to build leadership and research capacity in the two nations.
She will also help to embed equity at universities through research and connected professional development in Australia, Ghana and England.
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