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Measuring women’s empowerment in the Middle East & North Africa: New policy brief

Despite the fact that women comprise half the world’s population, gender inequality persists worldwide, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Beyond gender-based violence, this inequality manifests in various ways: from unequal control over resources, to unequal distribution of household d...
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Re:thinking / Re:working higher education: SDG Conference Bergen

“The last lesson I learnt is that sustainability is not in the future but in the present. Personal experience taught me that most people want to be reassured that they are going to survive 2019.” Silvio Funtowicz, Philosopher of Science, University of Bergen During the first week of Febr...
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Future-proofing manufacturing in Indonesia: New policy report

Indonesia has long aspired to become an upper-middle income economy and is now seeking ways to kickstart growth. The government is particularly interested in the role of the manufacturing sector and how to diversify and upgrade industry — which, in parallel, means reviewing industrial, fiscal ...
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International Day of Women & Girls in Science 2019

Every year on 11 February, the United Nations, partners worldwide, women and girls mark the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Why does it matter? Recent studies suggest that 65% of children entering primary school today will have jobs that do not yet exist. While more girls are attend...
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Dissecting our work on the web: Busting myths & tracking impact through data

Diversity, visibility and impact are three of the biggest buzzwords of the media landscape, especially for the UN family. They feed into various questions, including: Who is shown and who is seen? Who should set the spotlight? What is shared and what is gained? So on and so forth. This post aims to ...
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Global Compact on Refugees: Breaking new ground or going round in circles?

Though most eyes were on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, the UN General Assembly adopted another accord in December 2018: the Global Compact on Refugees. While labelled “a powerful expression of multilateralism in today’s fragmented world” by UN High Commissioner for Refu...
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Value4waste: Meeting our ‘Circular Economy’ champions

“Europe isn’t rich in natural resources, but we are very rich in human resources, and the circular economy can draw on those and export the technologies they spawn to the rest of the world,” said Karmenu Vella, European Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, ...
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Flying tax for staff & fellows at UNU-MERIT

MAASTRICHT. As of January 2019, researchers [and other staff] from the UNU-MERIT institute pay a flying tax when they book a domestic flight or a flight abroad. The tax is deducted from the project budget. “I was slightly apprehensive for the reactions,” says director Bart Verspagen, “but the plan w...
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How I cleared the hurdle of designing a successful PhD proposal

After over 15 years at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a UN specialised agency on information and communication technologies (ICTs), I felt it was the right time for me to design and execute a research project combining my professional experience, academic interests and certain gaps...
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From cyclones in India to protests in France: Why systemic shocks need ‘solution design’

Darwin identified at least two triggers of evolution: either shocks that hit a system from the outside or ‘mutant’ shocks that sprout up from within a system. The Gaja cyclone that hit the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu state in India on Friday 16 November 2018 is a typical example of the former, while...
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The road to Ulaanbaatar: New internal migration study on Mongolia

A new report from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) provides updated evidence on the trends of internal migration within Mongolia. UNU-MERIT researcher Dr. Craig Loschmann contributed to the study by assisting the Population Training and Research Centre (PTRC) of the National Univer...
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The anatomy of communications: From the backstory to the frontline

A few years ago a Turkish PhD fellow said to me rather wistfully: ‘I would like to have your job. It seems very nice.’ At the time I was inclined to agree with him, though I knew this was tempting fate. The question is, what did he really know of my job beyond what he’d seen on the website or at a w...
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How to deal with Russia? Learning from the past to reframe the future

At present the cold war between Russia and Europe is at its most intense since the Cold War of 1950 to 1980. Russia is rapidly rearming and placing new intermediate range missiles aimed at Europe along its borders. It is developing new – supposedly undetectable – nuclear weapons. It is promoting ris...
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Working with the World Bank to boost food security in Ethiopia

I have always been interested in pursuing a PhD. After working for a number of years and having a family, I felt that I needed a programme that would allow me to pursue my PhD and my career, while not having to interrupt either in any way. GPAC2 was the programme that appeared to fit the most....
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UNU-MERIT pilots carbon tax for staff air travel: Because ‘Climate Action’ starts at home

The UN’s research and training institute in the Netherlands, UNU-MERIT, has introduced a carbon ‘tax’ on air travel for its more than 100 staff and researchers. As of 1 January 2019, all business travel by plane will incur an additional premium, which will be used to offset carbon emissions. Part of...
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Toasting the Maastricht Student Entrepreneur Award 2018

A 22-year-old student on our Master of Science in Public Policy and Human Development (MPP) has won the first ever Maastricht Student Entrepreneur Award. Laura Nieboer took home the prize for her ‘Pieke Broodbier’ – a “really fruity” British Golden Ale with a “strong bite” and a novel twist: it is b...
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The right to immigrate: An interview with Prof. Arjen Leerkes

Every 18 December, the UN celebrates International Migrants Day to recognise the efforts, contributions, and rights of migrants worldwide. A perfect moment to speak with Arjen Leerkes, who was appointed Professor of ‘Migration, Securitisation and Social Cohesion’ at Maastricht University and U...
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Mygration Story: Between two worlds

My migration story began in Honduras, a beautiful country, at the heart of the Americas. This is the land where the sacred pyramids of our Mayan ancestors stand tall among the jungle canopy, and where the coffee beans grow strong at the skirt of our mountains. We are mestizos, which is Spanish for ‘...
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Big data is changing our lives – but do they also change our research & policymaking?

When I drive to work every day, most of my journey is recorded by cameras. Information about my route and speed of travel, as well as that of other people on the road at the time, can be used by governments to improve our national infrastructure, among many other things. It is the job of politicians...
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Why girls and women flee with birth control

Migration risks bringing Europe to a breaking point. It is about refugee boats, borders, Islam — about us and them. These are themes that not only concern society and politics, but also science and academia. … For more than 13 years, Prof. Melissa Siegel has been working on the theme of ...
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