The European Observatory for Clusters and Industrial Change has published the 2020 edition of the European Panorama of Clusters and Industrial Change, written by UNU-MERIT researchers Hugo Hollanders and Iris Merkelbach. The report presents an overview of how clusters contribute to the competitiveness of the European economy. It analyses cluster strength across 51 exporting industry sectors in Europe and identifies 2,950 regional industrial clusters. These industrial clusters account for almost ...
On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic and precautionary measures have been elevated since then around the world, to contain the disease as much as possible. One important measure has been to close down all schools and universities and shifting to online education. For those of us working in the education sector, the shift to online teaching has been challenging, requiring us to revise our approaches to teaching and setting exams. New skills are...
For every Master’s Open Day, we welcome prospective students and give them a general overview of the programme and its seven specialisations. We also invite our alumni to share their views on how the programme prepared them for their careers in international development, among others. On our latest Open Day in March 2020, we caught up with two alumni who reflected on the programme and their careers to-date. Welcome back and thank you for taking the time to visit us! Let’s first have a brief roun...
A joint post by Claudia Abreu Lopes and Sanae Okamoto The new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been spreading rapidly but at a different rate in different countries. A variety of emergency responses and policy strategies have been implemented with varying outcomes so far. The Asian countries and territories that were first hit by the outbreak have built on responses to previous epidemics such as SARS. Other countries are learning from this but also adopting their own strategies. It’s possible...
Prof. René Belderbos has been awarded the Journal of International Business Studies (JIBS) silver medal for ‘exceptional’ intellectual contributions. The award was part of the journal’s 50-year anniversary celebrations, held in 2019 in Copenhagen, Denmark. We caught up with René to find out more about the award and his wider work in general, including an upcoming sabbatical in Japan. … What is special about this journal and your silver award? The Journal of International Busine...
“My dear colleagues, the strength of our United Nations is YOU – our committed and dedicated personnel. Events have moved at alarming speed over the past two weeks. This crisis is unprecedented. And I’m proud of how – together – you are adapting so quickly. I understand the enormous stress that measures to contain the virus are putting on you and your families. Many of you, like me, are working away from loved ones and worrying deeply about them, and working from home can feel isolat...
In times of crisis, we tap untested resources and resilience. We need creativity to escape a terrible ‘new normal’ and determination to endure the journey. In short, we have to innovate and persevere. On 18 March 2020, for the first time in our history, one of our doctoral students defended her thesis virtually — a direct result of the coronavirus pandemic. In this post, Mary Kaltenberg is joined by one of her supervisors, Neil Foster-McGregor, to discuss the background and out...
A few years back, I came across someone who was enrolled on the EPRM course, while I was looking for an expert in primary health care on LinkedIn. Exploring the programme content on the UNU-MERIT website, I noticed that this blended course aims to extend the research knowledge and analytical skills of working professionals through its five comprehensive modules. Overall, my goal is to directly work with the government personnel, policymakers and relevant stakeholders for policy change based on f...
UNU-MERIT is closely monitoring the situation with regard to the COVID-19 outbreak, and will re-evaluate its policy on a daily basis. Directives and recommendations from central and local authorities in the Netherlands, as well as from the UN(U) will be followed immediately. Currently, this means that we have implemented the following measures. First, all teaching at Master’s and PhD level will be conducted online instead of in-class. This will involve some disruption of normal teaching sc...
You want to interview refugees and migrants on their journey, but they must – as is good scientific practice – first give permission and sign a form. Many refugees however, will never put their signature on anything. How do you deal with that? Also, what if a participant asks for money? Can you always refuse? Dr. Katie Kuschminder travelled to Italy to carry out research by moving among the many migrants from Africa and the Middle East. The Canadian wanted to know why they had braved the crossin...