About / À propos

Prof. Vinod Pavarala is the chairholder for the UNESCO Chair on Community Media at the University of Hyderabad. For over a decade, he has been one of the leading campaigners for the democratization of airwaves in India and has played a significant role in drafting the national policy permitting community radio a space on the radio dial in the country.

As founder-President of the Community Radio Forum of India, he plays an active role in civil society’s engagements with forging alternative media spaces for the marginalized, mostly rural, communities in India. His much reviewed book, co-authored with Kanchan K. Malik, Other Voices: the struggle for community radio in India (Sage, 2007) documents community-based efforts across India to carve out an alternative public sphere.

Prof. Pavarala has dual masters in Sociology and Communication and a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. He taught at the University of Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA) and IIT-Bombay, before joining the University of Hyderabad in 1995. He was a Visiting Fellow at Princeton University in 1998-99 and had the honor of being invited by the International Communication Association to speak at a special plenary on communication research and policy at its annual meeting in Boston in May 2011. At the University of Hyderabad, he has served as the Head for the Department of Communication, the Dean for Sarojini Naidu School of Arts & Communication and the Director of the International Affairs Office. He also serves on the Boards of Studies of several universities and is on national level committees on media education.

2003-Present: Professor of Communication, S.N.School, University of Hyderabad.
1995-2003: Associate Professor in Communication, S.N.School, University ofHyderabad.
2003: Visiting Professor in Media Studies, Semester at Sea Program, University of Pittsburgh, August-December.
1995: Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences,Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, March-August.
1994-1995: Guest Faculty, Department of Communication, S.N.School, University of Hyderabad.
1993-1994: Assistant Professor, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, Blacksburg, USA.
1988-1993: Teaching Fellow, Department of Sociology, University of Pittsburgh, USA.

(Ver. PBe 01-2022)