UNESCO Chair in Open Education and Social Justice

Associate Professor and ASD staff member Glenda Cox holds the UNESCO Chair in Open Education and Social Justice (2021–2025) which has been renewed from 2025 to 2029. The chair is a founding member of the UNESCO UNITWIN Network on Open Education (UNOE), which aims to support UNESCO-led open education initiatives, articulate an open education research agenda, raise funds and support the development of open education practice.

Numerous national and international advocacy activities were undertaken by A/Prof Glenda Cox. Earlier in the year, in March 2025, she participated in an online working session under UNESCO’s Priority Africa Flagship Programme 5. The session addressed how open science can be leveraged to create more equitable opportunities for African scientists and innovators, aligning her expertise in openness with UNESCO’s strategic focus on Africa, equity, and capacity building.

Her contributions in 2025 included direct participation in UNESCO‑led global events. In September, she took part in UNESCO Digital Learning Week at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, contributing to a workshop titled “23 good reasons for open education.” This engagement foregrounded the continued relevance of openness in the context of digital transformation and artificial intelligence, and highlighted the role of open education in supporting democratic, inclusive, and sustainable futures for higher education.

In addition to events and leadership roles, 2025 also saw her contribute to UNESCO’s public intellectual and policy discourse through a published opinion piece with the UNESCO Ideas Lab. (Amiel, T., Cox, G. & De La Higuera, C. (2025). “Open education principles: Resisting the metrics of AI black boxes.” Published by UNESCO Ideas Lab. This work critically examined open education principles in relation to artificial intelligence, arguing against reductive metric-driven approaches and advocating for values‑based, transparent, and socially just frameworks for AI in education.

In November 2025, she delivered a presentation within the UNITWIN / UNESCO Chairs Programme, focusing on open education for social justice and students as partners in transdisciplinary research. This contribution drew on her long-standing work with student–staff partnerships and open pedagogies, positioning students as active agents in knowledge creation rather than passive recipients.

Collectively, her UNESCO engagements in 2025 demonstrate a sustained and integrated contribution across leadership, scholarship, policy dialogue, and global advocacy. They reflect a coherent body of work that advances UNESCO’s mission in open education, social justice, AI ethics, and equitable knowledge futures, while reinforcing South–North and Global South perspectives within international education debates.

In 2025, A/Prof Cox was also invited by Professor Leon Tikly, the University of Bristol Chair in Transforming Knowledge and Research for Just and Sustainable Futures, to join the application process for a new UNITWIN network: Education Futures Network or Epistemic justice and the Knowledge Commons (EPiNET). This network is waiting for final approval from UNESCO.

BRISTOL senior research fellowship (July 2025-June 2028)
In 2025 A/Prof Glenda Cox received a Senior research fellowship at the University of Bristol as part of ongoing collaboration between the two institutions. This fellowship includes visits to Bristol for the duration of one year over the period of the fellowship.