Tag: UNESCO

UNESCO Youth Eyes on the Silk Roads Photo Contest 2026

Photo ContestYouth Eyes on the Silk Roads Photo Contest, UNESCO, Paris, France. Deadline: 30 June 2026.

UNESCO invites young people from around the world, aged 14 to 25, to pick up their cameras and send their best photos to the 8th edition of Youth Eyes on the Silk Roads International Photo Contest.

This contest is organized within the framework of UNESCO’s Silk Roads Programme, and promotes photography as a powerful medium to encourage cultural exchange, foster mutual understanding, and promote peace among communities across the Silk Roads regions.

For this 2026 edition, under the theme Living Heritage along the Silk Roads, young photographers are invited to capture how traditions, cultural expressions, and ritual practices reflect the interconnected histories of peoples across these regions.

UNESCO Transforming Higher Education Report 2026

“UNESCO”

Transforming Higher Education: Global collaboration on visioning and action, UNESCO, Paris, France, 2026.

UNESCO Transforming Higher Education 2026“Higher education has long stood as a bridge between pasts and futures. Universities and other higher education institutions are places where ideas are developed, values are debated and new possibilities are imagined. Today higher education institutions have a critical role to play in responding to pressing contemporary challenges. Through research, teaching and community engagement, they can provide the critical understanding, scientific expertise and creative imagination needed to tackle complex, multi-layered issues like climate change, biodiversity loss, health crises, persistent inequalities, the devastating consequences of armed conflicts, technological disruptions, democratic backsliding, economic challenges and rapidly transforming work environments.

To maximize the transformative potential of the sector, higher education itself needs to be transformed. UNESCO convened the third World Higher Education Conference in Barcelona in 2022 as part of a once-a-decade process of multilateral policy dialogue, deliberation, peer learning and agenda-setting. Drawing from this process and further consultations, this publication is the latest iteration in collectively fashioning and realizing a forward-looking higher education agenda.

This roadmap provides insights into developments and trends; it presents a set of forward-looking guiding principles to inspire and inform the work of all involved in higher education. It also identifies Lines of Transformation that point the way a new social contract for higher education, and is a call to action to help faculty, students, leaders and stakeholders change the sector into the transformative force the world and future generations need.”

Background Information:  In 2020-21 the Center for Intercultural Dialogue held three focus groups as part of the information gathering stage of UNESCO’s Futures of Education project, preparing what we learned as a report. This new report is part of a related but separate effort. Although the Center was not involved this time, the report. is likely to be of interest to many in our community.

UNESCO: More than Welcome

Resources in ICD“ width=

UNESCO. (2026). More than welcome:
Intercultural integration of migrants
in and through higher education. Paris, France: UNESCO.

More than Welcome is a new UNESCO publication developed by the Organization’s Social and Human Sciences (SHS) Sector. Against the backdrop of rising global displacement – now affecting more than 123 million people worldwide – the publication explores how higher education can help societies transform the challenge of displacement, and the consequences faced by receiving communities, into opportunities to foster more inclusive, cohesive and resilient societies grounded in intercultural integration, mutual understanding and shared belonging. (It is available open access – use the link in the header to download it.)

UNESCO Futures of Education Update 2026

“UNESCO”

Future of Education Newsletter launched, UNESCO, Paris, France.

 

UNESCO has just launched a newsletter with details of activities (some in person and others online), including IdeasLab, and Futures Dialogue, and publications related to their Futures of Education Programme, begun in 2020. Follow the link above for details.

One example of a future event is this:
Building Digital Futures for Public Education International Day for Digital Learning
In-person event | Helsinki, Thursday, 19 March 2026

The 2026 International Day for Digital Learning, under the theme of ‘Building digital futures for public education’, is an invitation to showcase where and how countries, provinces and school districts are building – and using – digital commons to strengthen public education and improve its outcomes. In line with the 2026 theme, UNESCO, together with UNICEF and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), will launch the Charter for Public Digital Learning Platforms on the International Day.

Background information:

UNESCO’s Futures of Education Programme anticipates and imagines new possibilities for education. It looks beyond the immediacy of today and tomorrow and takes a longer-term view of the purposes, functions and processes of education. Because education shapes the future, it is vital to generate ideas and suggest orientation to construct the future of education.

The Center for Intercultural Dialogue held three focus groups as part of the information gathering stage of the Futures of Education project, preparing what we learned as a report for UNESCO, in 2021. A few months later they requested concrete examples from around the world, and we prepared an addendum.

Interdisciplinary Contributions to Interreligious and Intercultural Teacher Education

Resources in ICD“ width=

Pruchniewicz, S., & Sarιkaya, Y. (Eds.). (2025). Interdisciplinary contributions to interreligious and intercultural teacher education: The impact of IMPACCT. Germany: Karl Alber.

Internationalisation, interculturality and interreligiosity are buzzwords that have also been pervading the field of education for years. But what happens and what moves when they are realised within the framework of a transnational academic project? This volume provides multi-perspective insights into the IMPACCT (International Mobility with Partners Abroad for Culturally Competent Teachers) project from an organisational, student and teaching perspective. The experiences, topics and future prospects of internationalised teacher education are also addressed in a reflective manner. In its various contributions, the volume shows the opportunities, challenges and levels of international co-operation between study locations in Sweden, Austria, Germany, Turkey and Switzerland. Insights that encourage us to cross borders.

UNESCO: Dialogue for Social Cohesion

Resources in ICD“ width=

UNESCO. (2025). Dialogue for social cohesion. Paris, France: UNESCO.

At a time where division threatens the fabric of societies, dialogue offers a path forward. The Dialogue for Social Cohesion brief, developed by UNESCO in collaboration with the Berghof Foundation and Search for Common Ground, blends real-world case studies with practical recommendations, offering policymakers, practitioners, and civil society essential guidance to harness intercultural dialogue — an approach championed by UNESCO — to build resilient, cohesive societies. From theatre in South Sudan to classrooms in Germany, discover how communities are using dialogue as an adaptable, creative, and culturally rooted approach to mend fractured relationships, rebuild trust, and strengthen social bonds.

CFP UNESCO Memory of the World International Register

“UNESCO”
Call for nominations for the UNESCO Memory of the World International Register for 2026-27, UNESCO, Paris, France. Deadline: 30 November 2025.

UNESCO is inviting new nominations for its Memory of the World International Register, which lists documentary heritage items of world and historical significance. Any person or organization, with the prior written consent of the owners or custodians, may submit nominations  through the National Commission for UNESCO or, in the absence of a National Commission, the relevant government body in charge of relations with UNESCO. Nominators are also encouraged to involve Memory of the World National Committees where possible. International organizations meeting the criteria set out in the General Guidelines of the Memory of the World Programme may also submit nominations.

UNESCO Global Report on Cultural Policies | Culture: The missing SDG

“UNESCO”
UNESCO Global Report on Cultural Policies | Culture: The missing SDG. Paris, France: UNESCO.

UNESCO launched the first edition of the UNESCO Global Report on Cultural Policies | Culture: The missing SDG during the UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development – MONDIACULT 2025, on 29 September 2025, in Barcelona, Spain.

UNESCO Global Report on Cultural Policies

Amid growing recognition of culture’s essential role in shaping inclusive, sustainable societies, the inaugural UNESCO Global Report on Cultural Policies | Culture: The Missing SDG presents a first global snapshot of cultural policies across regions and sectors. Based primarily on over 1,200 national and local reports submitted between 2019 and 2024, the report maps how countries are advancing culture through public policy.

The landmark publication is the first of its kind to cover all regions and cultural domains, offering the most comprehensive global analysis of cultural policies to date and providing an evidence base to guide new agendas and strengthen multilateral cooperation. The Global Report draws on 1,200 national and local reports and 200 case studies submitted between 2019 and 2024. It highlights key regional and global trends. It underscores the importance of culture for sustainable development, peace and security, and calls for an independent goal for culture in the post-2030 global agenda.

CFP UNESCO Futures of Education Ideas LAB

“UNESCO”
Call for short think pieces on What will shape the future of international cooperation for education? for the Futures of Education Ideas LAB, UNESCO. Deadline: 10 November 2025.

UNESCO’s Futures of Education IdeasLAB invites short think pieces (1500 words maximum) that reimagine, interrogate and analyze recent changes in global governance, multilateralism and international cooperation in education. They welcome contributions from all who engage with governance or education – including researchers, policy-makers, futures thinkers, public servants, private sector actors, educators, youth and civil society.

Multilateralism is in a moment of deep transition. The international system that optimistically pledged its commitments to ‘Education for All’ in 1990 appears less recognizable today. The frameworks and shared vision that once provided firm foundations for international cooperation in education have frayed, and in mid-2025 they appear more fragile than in past decades. At the same time, new imaginaries and solidarities offer opportunities to reimagine multilateralism, international cooperation and governance at all levels. How can we think about this present moment? What has changed, and what trajectories – both promising and perilous – appear ahead?

NOTE: The Center for Intercultural Dialogue held focus groups as part of the information gathering stage of the Futures of Education project, preparing what we learned as a report for UNESCO, in 2021.

UNESCO Training Program in ICD

“UNESCO”
UNESCO just launched its first training program focusing on intercultural dialogue, UNESCO, Paris, France.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) launched its first training program focusing on intercultural dialogue at the end of August 2025. The program targets professionals working in museums and heritage site management, in partnership with the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU), as part of the project “Fostering Positive Social Transformations in AlUla.”

The training sessions will be held every Thursday from September 18 to October 16 between 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. GMT+2 via Zoom. Participants include representatives of museums and World Heritage sites, particularly those engaged in public interaction, learning, and education.

The program covers key concepts in intercultural communication theory and practical applications to facilitate dialogue under the “Live Museum model,” which seeks to support the role of museums and heritage sites as platforms for exchange and understanding among visitors, while drawing on heritage and handicrafts as a driving force for dialogue between diverse cultures.