Vivek Venkatesh

Vivek Venkatesh is the UNESCO Co-Chair in Prevention of Radicalization and Violent Extremism and an associate professor in Concordia's Department of Art Education.

This two-time Concordia grad is a filmmaker, multimedia artist and an interdisciplinary applied learning scientist, he investigates the psychological, cultural and cognitive factors influencing the design, development and inclusive adoption of digital media in educational and social contexts.

Venkatesh is also the director of the Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance, the founder of the Grimposium festival and conference series, co-founder and director of Project SOMEONE and co-curator of the multimedia and musical projects Landscape of Hate and Landscape of Hope.

His research includes evaluating innovative techno-pedagogical practices that foster critical dialogues rooted in citizen education and digital literacy within secondary and post-secondary classroom contexts, developing digital media applications to sensitize and prevent online hate speech and curating live artistic performances that promote resilience to online hate.

In 2020 he launched PROFILE, a practical toolkit against racism and bias designed to confront the insidious and systematic practice of racial and social profiling.