Previous Projects

UNI-PREV Québec is a UNESCO-PREV Chair initiative that focuses on the prevention of violent radicalization and extremism in Quebec universities. This project pursues a number of goals including the following:

1. To identify the perceptions and manifestations of violent radicalization and extremism in academic institutions;
2. To identify the challenges faced by institutions, administrative and teaching staff, and students;
3. To identify the strategies and measures implemented by universities;
4. To identify the specific needs of academic institutions regarding violent radicalisation and extremism;
5. To provide a series of recommendations and potential solutions to the ministère de l’Éducation et de l’Enseignement supérieur (MEES) in order to enhance its support and guide its institutional action.

The UNESCO-PREV Chair has initiated a research project documenting selected evaluation models in prevention of violent extremism. Conducted in collaboration with the International Centre for the Prevention of Crime (ICPC), this research focuses on formal and informal evaluation models of several PVE programs in a variety of contexts.

Media coverage of terrorist attacks has long raised questions about the social responsibility of the media and the limits of public interest. These questions seem to be heightened by the current media environment, which advocates for instantaneous information and does not encourage journalistic analysis. Information professionals rely on available regulatory tools to help them deliver coverage that meets high professional ideals. In addition, recent years have seen a questioning of the effectiveness of self-regulation processes in the press and a search for alternative solutions to achieve better regulation of journalistic practices.

In this context, the project titled “Media Coverage of Violent Extremism: Professional Practices, Social Responsibilities and Ethics” offers a comparative analysis of the journalistic treatment of six (6) attacks perpetrated in six (6) countries and claimed by the Islamic State according to whether or not they respect the ethical principles recognized by the profession, these principles being set out in an analytical grid. In a second phase, the research team will meet with journalists in semi-structured interviews to gather feedback on the results of our press analysis and to discuss the issues they encountered while covering the attacks.

In 2019, Vivek Venkatesh, co-holder of the UNESCO-PREV Chair, was granted financial support by the Canadian Commission for UNESCO (CCUNESCO) to develop a toolkit to combat racial and social profiling. Designed for stakeholders in the fields of criminal justice, public safety and community development in Canada, the toolkit will include a background scan, a literature review, an analysis, a presentation, an op-ed article and adjustments based on critical feedback, including from civil society partners and municipal stakeholders who are part of the CCUNESCO networks.