THE CHAIR TEAM

Kanchan K. Malik is Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Hyderabad and Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair on Community Media. Her work lies at the intersection of community media, communication for social change, and the public sphere, with a sustained focus on community radio policy and practice in the global South, a field she has engaged with since her doctoral research.

Her scholarship foregrounds participatory communication approaches and examines how community-led and civil-society-driven media processes enable voice, inclusion, and locally grounded knowledge production. She has contributed to research on gender in grassroots media, participatory evaluation of communication initiatives, and the role of voice infrastructures, such as community media, in advancing human capabilities.

A former journalist with The Economic Times, she brings over 25 years of experience in teaching, research, and mentoring. She is co-author (with Vinod Pavarala) of Other Voices: The Struggle for Community Radio in India and co-editor of Community Radio in South Asia: Reclaiming the Airwaves.
Her publications also include UNESCO manuals on strengthening gender-sensitive practices and promoting indigenous languages through community radio.

She was a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin (2022–2023).