News

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...

Lessons from the three-day event in Rio de Janeiro By Mercedes Menéndez, Carlo Pietrobelli and Jorge Valverde From 20 to 22 July 2023, the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE) met for a three-day conference in Rio de Janeiro. There, the UNU-MERIT UNESCO Chair on Science, Technology ...

By Luk Van Langenhove and Luc Soete, former directors of UNU-CRIS and UNU-MERIT Hans van Ginkel, who passed away on Thursday, 27 July 2023, was a formidable figure by any standard. He was also one of those rare individuals who knew he could make a difference − and so he did through his times in char...

A post by Cristina Mancigotti, Capacity Development Coordinator at UNU-MERIT’s Capacity Development Office  Students consider dropping out of courses for a number of reasons, but our research shows that peer discussions and local context examples during class sessions can increase engagement a...

New pilot programme provides online certification to professional education – and enhanced employment value As a working professional, Joshua Antwi from Ghana was unable to enroll in UNU-MERIT’s full-time Master in Public Policy and Human Development (MPP) programme, despite his desire to acqu...

   European Innovation Scoreboard 2023 released today The twenty-second edition of the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS), which provides a comparative analysis of the research and innovation performance of EU Member States and selected third countries, was published today, 6 July 2023. The ...

Participants share their key takeaways from UNU-MERIT’s Migration Management Diploma Programme The Migration Management Diploma Programme (MMDP) is a capacity development programme which has been offered by UNU-MERIT since 2013. This programme is designed for government officials working in mi...

  UNU-MERIT affiliated researcher nominated for thesis-based educational game In 2016, Irina Burlacu de Paoli (UNU-MERIT PhD alumna and external lecturer at Maastricht University’s Summer Programme in European Studies) created the Mobility Era Game, a research-based financial literacy boa...