UNESCO Chair
Chair in "Sport for Development, Peace and the Environment from a Multidisciplinary and Global Perspective"
In early 2024, Prof. Dr Karen Petry was awarded the title of Co-Chairholder by UNESCO for the new UNESCO Chair in ‘Sport for Development, Peace and the Environment in a Multidisciplinary and Global Perspective’. The application for the UNESCO Chair was submitted jointly with Prof. Dr Tegwen Gadais from the Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada (UQAM). Following endorsement by the Canadian National Commission for UNESCO, the application was approved by UNESCO headquarters in Paris for an initial period of four years. There are currently around 10 UNESCO Chairs in sports science worldwide.
The new UNESCO Chair focuses on initiatives and projects in the fields of sport and development, which are being carried out in response to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Particular emphasis is placed on the following four areas: gender and equality (SDGs 5, 8, 10), the environment, climate change and nature (SDG 13), health and education (SDGs 3, 4), and peace and social cohesion (SDG 16). The two UNESCO Chair holders intend to bring together experts from all continents, in various languages and working on different research topics in the field of sport for development, in order to promote global, multidisciplinary and partnership-based cooperation between the countries of the so-called ‘Global North’ and the ‘Global South’.
The UNESCO Chair focuses primarily on collaborative projects and the development of new partnerships at various levels (local, regional, national or international) and between different stakeholders (researchers, civil society, policymakers, target groups). Furthermore, Tegwen Gadais and Karen Petry attach particular importance to ensuring that the projects carried out contribute to improving the living conditions of so-called marginalised population groups (e.g. refugees, indigenous peoples, young people from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds). We are also committed to involving the next generation of PhD students, undergraduates and practitioners.
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News
The UNESCO Chair holder, Prof. Dr Karen Petry, visited the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) in Canada from 11 to 15 August 2025, together with Alana Richardson, to work on the further development of the UNESCO Chair’s activities. The week included the Chair’s official kick-off event at UQAM, a summer school and planning meetings regarding the Chair’s future activities.
Official Kick-Off Event
The kick-off event for UQAM’s seventh UNESCO Chair, co-chaired by Professor Karen Petry (DSHS Cologne) and Professor Tegwen Gadais (UQAM), took place on 12 August 2025 in Montreal. During the event, the Chair was presented, along with its principles and key areas of focus. The Chair’s collaborative and interdisciplinary approach was highlighted through the presentation of work already carried out and upcoming activities. The event brought together researchers, students, NGOs and policy-makers from Montreal and the surrounding area.
Further information can be found here: https://actualites.uqam.ca/2025/une-nouvelle-chaire-unesco-sur-le-sport-comme-catalyseur-de-developpement/
Summer School
The UNESCO Chair’s first Summer School took place on 13 August. The programme brought together PhD and Master’s students conducting research in the fields of gender equality and justice, health and education, the environment and nature, peace and social cohesion.
Another highlight of the programme was a workshop on ‘Decolonisation and Sport’, led by Luc Parlavecchio and Jennifer Brazeau from the Lanaudière Native Friendship Centre (CAAL), which sparked valuable and stimulating discussions. The event concluded with ‘The Climate Fresk’, a collaborative educational activity on climate change, during which participants exchanged ideas and perspectives on future actions.
Future plans
During the visit, plans were also drawn up for the development of the UNESCO Chair over the next 12 months. These include, amongst other things, the development of a textbook on sport for development and peace, to be produced in collaboration with members of the Scientific/Advisory Committee. There are also plans to launch transnational research projects, thereby strengthening collaboration within the UNESCO Chair. The Chair also plans to involve students more closely in its work and to establish a student network.
In the last week of July 2024, Karen Petry, Alana Richardson and Sally-Ann Jennifer Fischer represented the UNESCO Chair and the Institute for European Sport Development and Leisure Research at UNESCO’s ‘Change the Game’ Ministerial and Partner Forum in Paris.
On the first day, the Partner Forum, they gained interesting insights from a series of sessions on the social impact of sport, investment in people and infrastructure, and innovative investment. On the second day, the Ministerial Forum, the programme featured four sessions on the following topics: High-quality physical education and sport for a sustainable social legacy; combating racism, discrimination and hate speech: the role of PE teachers; gender equality in and through sport; and safe and equitable sport.
The forum also saw the launch of the new UNESCO report, ‘The Social Impact of Sport: unlocking the potential of sport to drive social transformations’. The report contains recommendations for policy-makers, academics, investors and sports stakeholders. As researchers at the Chair, we look forward to contributing in the coming years to the calls for more evidence-based insights, research and collective action for #ChangeTheGame.
Find out more about the event and the “Change the Game” programme.
New Approaches to International Sport Politics? The United Nations and UNESCO as Key Players
Date: 18 June 2024, 11.30 am – 3.30 pm
Venue: German Sport University, Institute Building II, Senate Hall (ground floor)
International sport policy tends to focus primarily on the IOC and the international sports federations, which are generally responsible for the organisation and development of their respective sports worldwide. By contrast, transnational and international organisations are among the actors in international sport policy that have received little attention to date. This neglect of state actors at the international level can be explained by the dominant role of international sports organisations, but also by the hitherto limited willingness of (European) states to become more actively involved in sports policy at the international level and to engage in more extensive networking.
The UN system occupies a special position at the international level, where state actors have, at least temporarily or on an ad hoc basis, been involved in sports policy. As a key UN actor in the fields of education, science and culture, UNESCO, amongst others, has been addressing sport policy issues since 1978 through its ‘Intergovernmental Committee for Physical Education and Sport’ (CIGEPS). The most visible manifestation of this activity is the World Conferences of Ministers of Sport (MINEPS), the most recent of which took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, in 2023. The document adopted there, the ‘Fit for Life Alliance’, is primarily of a recommendatory nature; it does not lead to the establishment of internationally binding regulations. The most recent MINEPS VII conference, in particular, illustrates the lacklustre response such activities elicit: In Germany, there was only a very muted media response to the 2023 World Conference of Ministers of Sport, and, more generally, European states showed only limited interest in becoming more actively involved within the framework of MINEPS.
Against the backdrop of these developments, the symposium – organised jointly with the German Commission for UNESCO – examined the extent to which German sport policy is prepared to contribute to UNESCO’s activities and thus assume responsibility in the context of international sport policy. These and other questions were discussed with experts and representatives from the political sphere, the DOSB and the GIZ.
In the second part of the event, the objectives and work programme of the new UNESCO Co-Chair, established at the Institute for European Sport Development and Leisure Research, were presented. The UNESCO Chair, entitled ‘Sport for Development, Peace and Environment in a Multidisciplinary and Global Perspective’, has been established at the University of Montreal (UQAM) (Chairholder: Prof. Dr Tegwen Gadais), with Dr Karen Petry serving as Co-Chair. The other participating academics from the Czech Republic (Prof. Simona Safarikova) and Brazil (Prof. Billy Graeff) jointly presented the work programme for the next four years.
The symposium took the form of an expert workshop for a small group of participants.