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Migrant health in India: APPAM minority report #2

Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are among the world’s most neglected groups and issues related to their health care are barely addressed in the Sustainable Development Goals. However, the recent International Conference on Population Development under the theme ‘ICPD beyond 2014’ declared an urg...
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‘Look East & Follow the Asian Dream’: DEIP India 2017

“India is one of the fastest growing countries in Asia, backed by strong knowledge intensive sectors – pharmaceuticals, chemical automotive, telecommunications, and aerospace to name but a few,” says DEIP Programme Coordinator Dr. Michiko Iizuka. “India is also exploring new models of development th...
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Partnering up for knowledge — ‘R&T’ Ghana 2017

Continuing our drive to ensure research is both understood and applied globally, we travelled to Ghana for the second round of our science reporting workshop ‘Reach & Turn’. Along with our sister institute UNU-INRA and the UN Info Centre Accra we led two days of learning and debate with around 50 re...
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Boosting Completion Rates & Skills Matching with Online Add-ons

The Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has selected the project ‘Leading to Success: SMART Choices and SMART Tools’, submitted by project leader Dr. Mindel van de Laar, for funding in a competitive selection process to encourage open and online education. We obtained the SURF subsidy t...
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Taking policy beyond borders: New series

A joint post by Dr. Mindel van de Laar and Prof. David Van Slyke. ••• Governing is no longer the sole responsibility of states – today’s reality is far more inclusive and demands coordination with NGOs, non-profits, and the private sector. These are changes driven by the sheer complexity of policy c...
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Sino-European Circular Economy & Resource Efficiency: New Workshop

Researchers from China and Europe met in Maastricht on 24 April 2017 to discuss research related to the SINCERE project, or ‘Sino-European Circular Economy and Resource Efficiency’. The workshop was hosted by UNU-MERIT researchers Prof. René Kemp and Dr. Serdar Türkeli and participants included Yong...
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Yes, climate change matters: International scientists appeal to Trump on his first 100 days

US President Donald Trump has called global warming a “hoax” perpetrated by the Chinese and appointed a foe of environmental regulations to head up America’s Environmental Protection Agency. On April 22, which annually marks Earth Day, thousands of scientists around the globe marched to defend the r...
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Mygration Story: From Tsarist oppression to ‘Trudeau’ tolerance

As a Canadian, my 'mygration' story is not unusual – a mix of different places and several unknowns. For a start, I know a lot more about my mother’s side than my father’s. The father of my grandma arrived in Canada as a young child, and his family had left Russia because antisemitism was (once agai...
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Yes, giving money to very poor people will make their lives better — just ask Ecuador

Is eradicating poverty, a goal the United Nations’ hopes to achieve by 2030, actually feasible? New research out of Ecuador says yes – if governments are willing to pay for it....
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On Corruption & Development: Dr. Nillesen Wins New Fellowship

Understanding why some societies develop while others lag is crucial for the UN and anyone else interested in the 2030 Agenda – be they policymakers, academics or NGOs. In this Q&A, Dr. Eleonora Nillesen talks about her research on corruption and development, and how it earned her the acclaimed ...
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In Europe, a solidarity March for Science — and a call to action in political debates

On Earth Day, Saturday April 22 2017, scientists will descend from their ivory towers in more than 500 cities across the globe to stage a huge March for Science. The scientists are coming out en masse to champion “robustly funded and publicly communicated science as a pillar of human freedom and pro...
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Environmental risk in Southeast Asia: APPAM minority report #1

I heard about the 2017 APPAM Conference through my university network. At the time, I had just finalised a paper on environmental policy in the Water-Food-Energy Nexus of the Mekong Region, which became the foundation of my current thesis. When I saw the conference themes, I thought it would be a go...
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What Lies Beyond the Poverty Line: Real Hope or Harsh Reality?

Reports on the fight against global poverty are often optimistic — sometimes too optimistic. Part of the problem is “our” reliance on a simplistic measure, which draws an absolute poverty line of $1.90 per day in so-called 2011 international purchasing power parity. What can we do ...
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Why South Africa’s Social Grants Aren’t Eradicating Malnutrition

PhD fellow Jennifer Waidler recently returned from a visiting fellowship at the University of Western Cape, South Africa. There she worked with Prof. Stephen Devereux, Research fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex and Professor at the University of Western Cape. They ...
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What Next for ‘World Leading’ UNU-MERIT & ICIS?

“An outstanding contribution to society – world leading,” is one verdict by an independent review committee on the work carried out by the United Nations University – Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT) and the International Centre for Integrate...
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Left out to dry? Gender & fisheries on Lake Tanganyika

Boats are floating on the still surface of a bay in Northwest Tanzania. I have come to a village in the Kigoma region to do research on small-scale fishing and the value chain from lake to market. I am here to look especially at the different roles played by men and women, to identify gender-based b...
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How Did Sikkim Turn the Tide for Sanitation in India?

“Worldwide about a billion people defecate in the open — including 600,000 in India. So when Sikkim in the far northeast of India was declared ‘Open Defecation Free’ in 2016, we were curious. How did this small state, capped by Himalayan peaks and dotted with Buddhist monasteries, ...
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Mygration Story: A migrant’s view on migrants

When people ask me where I’m from, I pause. I take a deep breath and try to decide if I should give the long story or the short story. I was born in Abergavenny, a small town in Wales. When I was one year old, we moved to Hong Kong, and spent an amazing 10 years living there....
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‘Without Innovation, Peru’s Development Will Stall’: DEIP Peru 2017

“Peru is at a critical juncture politically, economically and socially,” says Dr. Michiko Iizuka. “Their economy has been growing significantly for the past 10-15 years and during that period, poverty has decreased – but now economic growth is slowing due to the decline in commodit...
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Whatever the Election Result, the Dutch Public is Dangerously Polarised

The Dutch government’s refusal to allow Turkish ministers to visit Rotterdam and address the large number of Dutch-Turkish citizens on how to vote in the Turkish constitutional referendum of April 16 was a game-changer in the Dutch elections....
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