Jan Servaes (PhD) was UNESCO Chair in Communication for Sustainable Social Change. He has taught International Communication and Communication for Social Change in Australia, Belgium, China, Hong Kong, the United States, the Netherlands, and Thailand, in addition to several teaching and research stints at about 120 universities in 55 countries. He is known for his ‘multiplicity paradigm’ in “Communication for Development. One World, Multiple Cultures” (1999). Servaes was Editor-in-Chief of the Elsevier journal “Telematics and Informatics: An Interdisciplinary Journal on the Social Impacts of New Technologies.” He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Handbook of Communication for Development and Social Change (2020), the Springer Book Series “Communication, Culture and Change in Asia”, and the Lexington Book Series "Communication, Globalization and Cultural Identity".
Servaes has been President of the European Consortium for Communications Research (ECCR, later www.ecrea.eu) and Vice-President of the International Association of Media and Communication Research (IAMCR, www.iamcr.org), in charge of Academic Publications and Research, from 2000 to 2004. He chaired the Scientific Committee for the World Congress on Communication for Development (Rome, 25-27 October 2006), organized by the World Bank, FAO and the Communication Initiative.
Servaes has undertaken research, development, and advisory work around the world and is the author of more than 500 journal articles and 25 books/monographs, published in Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Indonesian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Thai, on such topics as international and development communication; ICT and media policies; intercultural communication; participation and social change; and human rights and conflict management.