The UNESCO Chair on Language Policies for Multilingualism is a research network created in 2018 comprising 25 institutions, including universities and research centres around the world. Its primary goal is to conduct interdisciplinary research on multilingualism from different angles, namely Education, Linguistics, Sociology and Sociolinguistics, Political Science, Economics or Language Rights. The Chair is coordinated by the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) in Florianopolis, Brazil. The Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) joined the Chair in 2019. It is the only university in Catalonia and in Spain joining the Chair and the second university in Europe.

The Chair is created within the UNESCO framework to ensure that multilingualism and linguistic diversity are included in wider international debates, especially in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Linguistic diversity is not mentioned in any of the 17 SDG or in the 169 specific targets. Languages are, however, transversal closely linked to all SDG. Languages are about inclusion and citizen participation, education, right to information, reducing inequalities, and creating prosperity, etc. For this reason, the United Nations Declared the International Decade of Indigenous Languages 2022-2032.

Multilingualism and Sustainable Development are two priority areas for the UPF. The UPF 2016-2025 Strategic Plan includes multilingualism management as key priority. The University has also initiated the Planetary Wellbeing initiative, an ambitious university programme aimed at becoming an international reference in generating and transferring knowledge around this concept and contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda.

The UPF joins the UNESCO Chair to conduct transversal, interdisciplinary research on the different aspects of multilingualism and the close link between languages and sustainable development.