The UNESCO Chair in the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Expansion of Political Space is based at the Centre for Applied Human Rights (CAHR), University of York (UK). The goal of the Chair, and its network of university and civil society partners, is to enhance the role of universities in activism and protection. 

The Chair will develop communities of practice, understood as multi-stakeholder spaces for dialogue; exchange of experience, knowledge and learning; trialling grounds for collaboration and innovation; and routes to impact. For universities to play these roles requires engagement with three core themes: