By Luk Van Langenhove and Luc Soete, former directors of UNU-CRIS and UNU-MERIT Hans van Ginkel, who passed away on Thursday, 27 July 2023, was a formidable figure by any standard. He was also one of those rare individuals who knew he could make a difference − and so he did through his times in charge of the largest Dutch university, Utrecht University, and the smallest international university, the United Nations University (UNU). Intellectual, managerial and entrepreneurial Intellectually, Ha...
Lynn Mytelka, who passed away on 17 February 2021 at the age of 78 following a chronic illness, was director of UNU-INTECH – today UNU-MERIT – from 2000 to 2004. Lynn had the difficult task of following in the footsteps of Charles Cooper, the founding director, but nonetheless brought to the institute great practical development expertise and much closer relations with other UN networks in the fields of trade, industrialisation and technology transfer. Doing so she laid the foundations of a Unit...
We have received the shocking and tragic news of the sudden passing away of our Master’s alumnus Simon Neuland at the age of 30, last Friday. Simon was part of the 2013-14 cohort on our Master of Science in Public Policy and Human Development (MPP), in the Social Protection Specialisation. We remember Simon as a very cheerful person, smart, kind, supportive, and always helpful. From the accounts of all those who knew him, he was a fine human being who will be utterly missed. The staff and ...
It is with deep sadness that we bring you the news that our colleague and friend Ibrahima Sory Kaba passed away on 1 September 2020, at the age of 32. Ibrahima started at UNU-MERIT as a PhD fellow, and completed his PhD thesis entitled ‘Aggregate Fluctuations and Development: Essays on Macroeconomic Volatility and Economic Growth’ in 2019. After his period as PhD fellow, he took up a teaching position at UNU-MERIT’s sister department, MILE, at Maastricht University’s School of Business and Econo...
Our institute has received the sad news of the passing away of Wolfgang Scholz in early June 2020. Wolfgang was a key member of the ILO team that collaborated with the Economics Department at Maastricht University to start a mid-career Master’s programme in Social Protection for social security professionals in Maastricht in 2001. This Master’s programme grew in scope and outreach to become what is now known as the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance. A rich source of information on the sta...
It is with great sadness that we bring the news that our good friend and colleague Eddy (Adam) Szirmai passed away early last Saturday, 11 January 2020. Eddy was recovering from extensive surgery that he underwent more than a year ago, and although the treatment was generally considered successful, severe complications arose at the end of last year. Eddy was a true intellectual, born in an immigrant family with strong intellectual roots. During the 1960s and 1970s, he studied economics, history,...
On 6 May 2014, Prof. Dr. Wil Albeda passed away at the age of 88. Albeda had a rich career as a national politician and university professor. In Maastricht, he was the founding dean of the School of Economics, which, in 1988, became the home of the research institute MERIT, which he strongly supported from the very beginning. Albeda also played a large role in the establishment of UNU-INTECH, leading negotiations with then UNU Rector Dr. Soedjatmoko to establish the institute in Maastricht. In 2...