News

On 15 November, UNU-MERIT played host to the panel discussion ASEAN 2045: The Future of the Region as an Epicentrum of Growth, co-organised by the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia. Five ambassadors and diplomatic representatives from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) discussed h...

From 30 Nov to 12 Dec, the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) is taking place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Expectations are high for the year’s climate negotiations, which will focus on combatting temperature rise and the conclusion of the first global stocktake, which cr...

Machine learning (a subfield of artificial intelligence) is now routinely used by policymakers in the design, calibration and evaluation of public policies. Solving these prediction policy problems requires tools that are tuned to minimise prediction errors, but also frameworks to ensure that models...

3 questions with our expert Julieta Marotta for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women According to UN Women, almost one in three women and girls have been “subjected to physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both, at least once...

By Soha Youssef, Learning and Development Coordinator at UNU-MERIT and alumna of the 2018/19 MPP cohort (specialised in Migration Studies) In October 2023, the Dutch Migration Minister Eric van der Burg met with several Egyptian government officials (including the Development Minister and the Minist...

Highlights from UNU-MERIT’s Public Policy MPP Conference 2023 By Victor Osei Kwadwo, researcher and lecturer at UNU-MERIT On 8 November 2023, UNU-MERIT played host to thought-provoking discussions at our annual Public Policy MPP Conference, a key fixture on our MSc in Public Policy and Human Develop...

The Rector and AI expert delivers flagship lecture on the accelerating technology   On 26 October 2023, UNU-MERIT hosted the seventh instalment of its flagship Charles Cooper Memorial Lecture Series, named for the institute’s first director. United Nations University (UNU) Rector and artificial...

By Tatenda Zinyemba (postdoctoral researcher, UNU-MERIT) Over the past three decades researchers have explored various aspects of the impact of the HIV pandemic. One focus area has been children who have lost their parents to AIDS. Less attention has been given to children who are raised by parents ...

Below is an excerpt from the article ‘Libya flood reveals disaster prevention deficit in fragile states’, published on 13 October 2023 in Context [a media platform of the Thomson Reuters Foundation] and written by United Nations University (UNU) researchers Michael Hagenlocher, Sanae Oka...

After a hiatus of nearly five years, we are pleased to announce that we are relaunching our Charles Cooper Memorial Lecture Series – which has been running since 2007 – with a public lecture from United Nations University Rector Professor Tshilidzi Marwala on Thursday 26 October 2023. Pr...

Article co-authored by Mariajose Silva Vargas, full-time PhD fellow at UNU-MERIT [Reprinted by permission from VoxDev; Francesco Loiacono] Working together with one refugee worker for one week increases firms’ likelihood to hire more refugees by adjusting business owners’ beliefs about refugees’ ski...

Here’s what participants have to say about our EPRM revamp Last semester, the Capacity Development Office at UNU-MERIT made changes to its flagship Evidence-Based Policy Research Methods (EPRM) programme based on feedback from its participants, who are working professionals from across the globe loo...

Tips and tricks from our dual career PhD fellows To kick off the 2023–2024 academic year, three of our dual career PhD fellows – Ari Perdana, Ilsa Meidina and Laisa Daza Obando – held a panel discussion about careers in multilateral development banks, describing their personal experiences of working...

On 28-29 September, UNU-MERIT held its annual Internal Conference — an intensive two-day gathering that convened all of our PhD fellows (both full-time and dual career), researchers and professors for an in-person research exchange. During this much-anticipated event, our academic community members ...

By Robert Oakes (Senior Researcher, UNU-EHS) and Talitha Dubow (postdoctoral researcher, UNU-MERIT) The UK’s home secretary, Suella Braverman – the minister responsible for setting immigration policy – has said the United Nations refugee convention is not “fit for our modern age” and should be reneg...

This week, Scientific American published a news piece on the increasingly common worldwide concerns about rapid advances in generative artificial intelligence, and how this ‘AI anxiety’ can be managed. The article features UNU-MERIT researcher Sanae Okamoto, an expert in psychology, cogn...

Results from a new evaluation study In 2020, the EU’s EUR 80 billion research and innovation funding programme Horizon 2020 came to a close after running since 2014. Now, as its successor Horizon Europe kicks into gear, analyses and learnings from the original programme are being put forth to inform...

New research article highlights three tips In light of new AI (artificial intelligence) technologies such as ChatGPT affecting education, Louis Volante, affiliated professorial fellow at UNU-MERIT, co-authored a recent article offering educators research-informed pathways on how to harness AI to pro...

Last week, we welcomed a new cohort of students, who have come from across the globe to join our Master of Science in Public Policy and Human Development (MPP) programme. Before diving into their studies, more than 80 students from 29 countries stepped into student life at UNU-MERIT through two intr...

By Shyama V. Ramani (Professorial Fellow, UNU-MERIT) and Maximilian Bruder (PhD fellow, UNU-MERIT). ChatGPT has been touted as a tool that is going to revolutionise the workplace and home. AI systems like it have the potential to enhance productivity but could also displace jobs. The ChatGPT website...