News

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 competitivene...

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 o...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

“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 stre...

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 defen...

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 ...

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 th...

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 alwa...

We often hear about plans to colonise Mars or return to the Moon, to be achieved in a seemingly distant future like 2030 or 2050. My visit to the 12th European Space Conference in Brussels on 21-22 January 2020 made me realise however that space is actually at the centre of strategic debates happeni...

"If you’re thinking about taking the MPP at UNU-MERIT, do it! You will find an international environment, amazing professors, both as human beings and as academics. And you will obtain tools and a knowledge to make a difference in the field of public policy.” Dr. Andrés Mideros Mora...

Girls consistently outperform boys on reading tests – and have done so for several decades around the world. Lack of motivation, a weak vocabulary, poor reading engagement and lack of role models have all been considered possible reasons for this disparity....

How to master the art of compromise? “So these would be my last words to you as future policymakers: Try to see a compromise not as a watered down opinion, but as a very strong common ground.” Lilianne Ploumen Enter keywords...

BIGPROD’s official kick-off meeting took place at the Maastricht University Brussels Campus on 22 January 2020. The goal of the BIGPROD project is to extend existing econometric approaches to productivity, such as the Crepon-Duguet-Mairesse (CDM) model, with theoretically sound ‘Big data’ meas...

"The vast network of scholars that the CatChain project brings is truly a great opportunity for anyone who participates in it, as it embraces a new economic thinking through the sharing of different experiences among the partner institutions and with other external parties." Dr. VGR Chandran Govinda...

The exponential growth of data and artificial intelligence is creating a tug-of-war between data for profit and data for the common good. In this struggle, it is fundamental that we protect our basic human data rights. Artificial intelligence will someday know you better than you know yourself. That...

A new decade begins with the promise of a global rebrand, a new website, and a new director for UNU-MERIT. All three are currently being decided, so now is a good time to look back on 2019 – a year that featured two major developments in our outreach activities. First, European membership of The Con...

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, ...

Oil prices shot up following the US assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, rising more than US$5 per barrel to more than US$71 (£54) on January 6, its highest level since the Saudi oil refinery attack last September. Brent crude has since eased to around US$69 at the time of writing, tho...