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.

With Prof. Jo Tacchi at the London campus

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.

With Prof. John Downey at the Loughborough campus

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.

Loughborough campus talk

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.

With Dom Chambers, Chair of CMA, UK

He also interacted with UK-based researchers in community media, including those from Bournemouth University and University of Bedfordshire.

Lunch meeting with community media scholars

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/.

Interview on Sheffield Live

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.”