UNESCO launched the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme in 1991 as an international action plan for academic solidarity to strengthen inter-university co-operation with particular emphasis on support to higher education in the developing countries.
The programme works towards establishing and reinforcing strong and durable linkages amongst higher education and scientific institutions worldwide and at facilitating the transfer of knowledge while combating the brain drain. Special attention is paid to providing assistance through inter-regional and (sub)regional linkages.
The UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme encompasses a broad spectrum of activities requiring very flexible modes of action. It is based on genuine, equal partnership among the higher education institutions which initiate various projects within its framework.
Two types of closely interrelated and interdependent activities have emerged as the base for the major strategies for implementing the Programme: inter-university networks and international UNESCO Chairs. While individual chairs responding to specific needs are possible, the programme endeavours to create the proper conditions to allow each chair to be a focal point of a network or to be a part of a network.

The UNITWIN network on Interreligious studies

STAFF Dmitry L. SPIVAK Chairman Alina V. VENKOVA Deputy Chair Evgeny V. LUNYAEV Academic secretary Michael STEPANOV Co-ordinator	PROFESSORS
	Olga N. ASTAFIEVA Professor of the UNESCO Chair for Comparative Studies of Spiritual Traditions, their Specific Cultures and Inter-religious Dialog, Deputy head of the Chair for Cultural Theory and Practice of Culture of the Russian Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor Current research interests: philosophy of culture, culturology, social and cultural anthropology, aesthetics, musicology.
	Skye BURN International associate, UNESCO Chair on Comparative Studies of Spiritual Traditions, their Specific Cultures and Interreligious Dialogue; psychologist. Current research interests: psychological aspect of interreligious and interfaith dialogue.
	Andrey L. VASSOEVICH Professor of the UNESCO Chair for Comparative Studies of Spiritual Traditions, their Specific Cultures and Inter-religious Dialog, Professor, Chair of Political Psychology, St. Petersburg State University; Professor, Chair of General History, Russian (Herzen) State Pedagogic University; Professor, St. Petersburg Orthodox Theological Academy; Ph. D. (History), Doctor of Philosophy, Professor. Current research interests: History of the Ancient East, ancient languages, political psychology.
	Vladimir S. ZHIDKOV Professor of the UNESCO Chair for Comparative Studies of Spiritual Traditions, their Specific Cultures and Inter-religious Dialog, The Head of Section for Humanities of the Russian Foundation for Fundamental Research, Ph.D., Professor Current research interests: systems approach to culture; synergetics in humanities; cultural politics; multiculturalism; history of Russian and Soviet theatre.
	Dmitriy A. IVASHINTSOV Professor of the UNESCO Chair for Comparative Studies of Spiritual Traditions, their Specific Cultures and Inter-religious Dialog, Leading researcher, Sector for Comparative History of Culture; Honourary Professor, UNESCO Chair on Comparative Studies of Spiritual Traditions, their Specific Cultures and Interreligious Dialogue, D.Sc., Professor, Honoured worker of science of Russia. Current research interests: history of Russian culture, history of the Russian emigration, history of Russian art and literature, cultural aspects of technological progress.
	Svetlana N. IKONNIKOVA Professor of the UNESCO Chair for Comparative Studies of Spiritual Traditions, their Specific Cultures and Inter-religious Dialog, Chairholder, Chair of Theory and History of Culture, St. Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts; Ph.D., Professor; Honoured worker of science of Russia; full member, Russian academy of natural sciences. Current research interests: the History of Cultural research, Theory of Culture, Sociology of Youth, Sociology of Elites, Russian cultural area, issues of higher education, virtualistics.
	Liubov M. MOSOLOVA Professor of the UNESCO Chair for Comparative Studies of Spiritual Traditions, their Specific Cultures and Inter-religious Dialog, Chairholder, Chair of Theory and History of Culture, Russian State Pedagogical University; Ph.D., Professor, Honoured worker of higher education of Russia. Current research interests: theory and history of culture, philosophy of culture, history of art, history of artistic culture of Central Asia, history of cultures of the peoples and regions of Russia and Eurasia.
	Nikolay L. MUSKHELISHVILI Professor of the UNESCO Chair for Comparative Studies of Spiritual Traditions, their Specific Cultures and Inter-religious Dialog, Head researcher, Institute for Information Transmission Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences; rector, St.Thomas Institute for Philosophy, Theology, and History; Ph.D., Professor. Current research interests: research on religious experience, mystical and altered state of consciousness, prayer practices.
	Efim A. REZVAN Professor of the UNESCO Chair for Comparative Studies of Spiritual Traditions, their Specific Cultures and Inter-religious Dialog, Editor-in-chief, International Journal for Oriental Manuscript Research “Manuscripta Orientalia”, Ph.D., Professor. Current research interests: Koran research, history of Russian-Arab relations.
	Roman V. SVETLOV Professor of the UNESCO Chair for Comparative Studies of Spiritual Traditions, their Specific Cultures and Inter-religious Dialog, Senior researcher, Sector of comparative history of culture; head, St. Petersburg Plato Society; Ph. D., Professor. Current research interests: ancient philosophy and culture.
	Sergey S. KHORUXHIY Professor of the UNESCO Chair for Comparative Studies of Spiritual Traditions, their Specific Cultures and Inter-religious Dialog, Director, Institute for Synergetic Anthropology; D.Sc., Professor, Honoured worker of science of Russia; member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. Current research interests: philosophical anthropology, religious philosophy, synergetic anthropology.
	Associate Professor

	Nina KOCHELYAEVA Associate Professor of the UNESCO Chair for Comparative Studies of Spiritual Traditions, their Specific Cultures and Inter-religious Dialog, Historian of the Culture. Current research interests: Pilgrimage as Sociocultural Phenomenon, Forgetting in Culture.