The Millennium Development Goals were announced to the world in the year 2000. They marked a significant milestone in instituting a goal-based approach towards development. In terms of policies, they have arguably been the most successful in driving the world’s agenda towards global development. But when it comes to education, the extent to which they made a difference after 15 years remains inconclusive. In 2015 the Sustainable Development Goals replaced the Millennium Development Goals. Goal n...
I’m involved in an exciting pilot project on ‘Open Educational Badging’ – and I must admit that it’s scary because I barely understand ICT, especially coding. Still, the participants in the ‘Evidence-Based Research Methods’ (EPRM) programme that I direct will be awarded online badges that can be linked to their social network profiles, and show that they successfully completed the courses. You may wonder how an ICT-averse person like me ends up in an ICT-innovative educational pilot programme. I...
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are emerging technologies that many people are afraid of, including so-called ‘experts’ and policymakers. Perceived threats include the loss of millions of jobs, leading to mass unemployment and spiralling social and economic problems. One popular study by Frey and Osborne concludes that “47% of total US employment is in the high-risk category [above 70% risk], meaning that associated occupations are potentially automatable over some unspecified numbe...
This month I travelled from Maastricht to Bruges on the day that happened to be the hottest day ever recorded in both Dutch and Belgian meteorological history. As weather experts were explaining how a wave of hot air had moved north from the Sahara across continental Europe, it became clear to most European citizens that heat waves have no borders, with heat records also broken in neighbouring France and Germany. In Maastricht and Bruges, temperatures, as if they had harmonised, were ultimately ...
The Great Recession of the late 2000s hit Europe hard, with the perfect storm of an economic downturn and a productivity slowdown. What’s more, it compounded years of already anaemic growth. Since then, EU states and agencies have worked hard to contain these problems, but a decade later there are still no comprehensive solutions. A new EU-funded project involving Prof. Pierre Mohnen and Assistant Prof. Tania Treibich aims to change all that. GROWINPRO will provide a raft of joined-up policies t...
Most discussions about artificial intelligence (AI) are characterised by hyperbole and hysteria. Though some of the world’s most prominent and successful thinkers regularly forecast that AI will either solve all our problems or destroy us or our society, and the press frequently report on how AI will threaten jobs and raise inequality, there’s actually very little evidence to support these ideas. What’s more, this could actually end up turning people against AI research, bringing significant pro...
"Breakthrough innovations often emerge from a combination of different types of knowledge from different areas… The next step is to track these innovations via relevant data sources and comparative indicators.”...
How many times have you rolled your eyes when someone said a country is progressive because half the parliament is made up of women? How much can this really tell us about gender equality and women’s participation in any particular country? Why does it even matter? As such a hot topic, I was excited to hear all about Catie Lott’s PhD dissertation, ‘Diamonds are a Woman’s Best Friend: Broadening Measures of Women’s Access to Formal Political Decision-Making’. Her doctorate looked at female policy...
"I was really happy to be there for three days, sitting down not only with researchers but also communicators and journalists. It was a really nice experience to work with them, to understand what are the best ways to communicate with society. Not only our results but also our passion, our emotion and our vulnerability – and the fact that we researchers are also human, so people can identify with us... It also helped us to understand how we can tell stories better visually, not only in terms of ...
I work as a freelance consultant, and the bulk of my career has focused on project evaluation, research and supporting humanitarian development organisations in designing projects and programmes. I chose this course because I thought it would address my needs and improve my performance, especially during commissioning assignments for NGOs working in conflict areas such as Iraq and Syria. Also, as a large part of my work is to evaluate research and projects, I needed a course that would help me u...