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UNU-MERIT is launching a scholarship to offer a non-EU citizen the opportunity to join the Master of Science in Public Policy and Human Development. To start the first year of the scholarship, UNU-MERIT has donated 20,000 euros towards its creation and we are now looking for wider support to contribute the remaining 5.000 euros to help cover living expenses for this future MPP fellow. A total of 25,000 euros will allow the student to show they have the funds to live in Maastricht, making them eligible for their visa and making the study possible. More details on this new initiative and how to support it can be found here: https://www.umcrowd.nl/project/give-to-a-full-mpp-scholarship Photo cr...

Day 5: Symposium 19 May 2022 Day 3 17 May 2022 Day 2 16 May 2022 Day 1: Policy Action Lab 13 May 2022 Photo credits: H. Pijpers / UNU-MERIT / Maastricht University...

UNU-MERIT: Fifteen Years of Partnerships This is the story of UNU-MERIT, our purpose, how we work – and the people who made us  Enter keywords...

In April 2022, UNU joined other UN entities in endorsing a UN System pledge on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM). In this blog series, members of the United Nations University Migration Network (UNU-MN) and guest contributors reflect on the equitable and evidence-based implementation of the GCM in policy and practice. In this first blog of the series, Dr Elaine Lebon-McGregor (UNU-MERIT) reflects on what we can really say about progress in implementing the GCM.  Next week, States will gather at the United Nations Headquarters in New York for the first-ever International Migration Review Forum (IMRF). The IMRF was conceptualised in the Global Compact for Safe Or...

How to choose a topic for your master’s thesis? “Few assignments can be as intimidating at university as writing a thesis,” acknowledges Master’s student Lais Bonetto. How do you pick your topic and how do you conduct your research? Find out what motivated Lais and her fellow students in their choices. Enter keywords...

Register to participate in the May Event Series here. A series of landmark events will be held during May to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of the first collaboration between the United Nations University, Maastricht University and the MERIT Foundation, which led to the creation of UNU-MERIT.  Since that original collaboration, UNU-MERIT has become the UN’s go-to innovation institute, undertaking research and training in order to mobilise knowledge, education and policy and unlock the full potential of Comprehensive Innovation for Sustainable Development.  Based in Maastricht, UNU-MERIT works with a diverse range of organisations to help tackle the pressing global problems of human surv...

 UNU-MERIT · Director’s Crossover: Bartel Van de Walle & Edeltraud Guenther In this month’s episode of the Director’s Corner, Prof. Bartel Van de Walle is joined by Prof. Edeltraud Guenther, Director of UNU-FLORES, our sister Institute in Dresden, Germany. They talk about the long-term impacts of the pandemic on education, returning to work, and tactics to keep their staff inspired. Some of the topics discussed in this podcast are: – What challenges did both institutes face during and after COVID-19 and how did the two UNU Institutes cope and adapt? How did the Directors themselves adapt? – What changed, and what remained after the crisis? Is hybrid education unavoidab...

Our ‘Dual Focus PhD’ series tracks the working lives of our part-time PhD fellows. Many work at the highest of levels, both nationally and internationally — and in normal times they come to Maastricht in person for our unique PhD Dual Career Training Programme in Governance and Policy Analysis (GPAC²). This time, our Head of Communications, spoke with Rodrigo Lopez and Giovanna Mazzeo Ortolani who just started their PhD.  Diego: Giovanna and Rodrigo, welcome to UNU-MERIT! Could you tell me a little bit about yourselves? Rodrigo: My name is Rodrigo Lopez, and I come from Chile. I’m a sociologist with a background in medicine. Giovanna: My name is Giovanna Mazzeo Ortolani, and despite my Itali...

Researchers of UNU-MERIT, the Maastricht Sustainability Institute and the Department of Chemical Engineering of Maastricht University have obtained a 1.5 million euro grant to contribute to an EU-funded project on plastic packaging recycling.  The EU is allocating a total budget of 9.6 million euros for the SYSCHEMIQ project as part of the Horizon Green Deal programme. The project is intended to facilitate the systemic transition to a circular economy in the region. The project fits with the strategy of plastic producers to continue using plastics as a packaging material but to use recycled plastics to produce it. To achieve this, innovation is needed on multiple fronts: in sorting out conta...

Dr Rasmus Lema joined UNU-MERIT as an Associate Professor in January 2022. Rasmus’ broad research interests cover structural change and development, new and emerging technologies, and global value chains and innovation systems. He currently investigates economic development opportunities and constraints arising from the green transformation in emerging economies and sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, Rasmus is co-editor in chief of the Journal Innovation and Development and vice-chairman of the Globelics Scientific Board. He talks with Head of Communications Diego Salama about his research agenda and his vision for his tenure in our institute. What lines of research will you pursue at UNU-MERI...

A joint post by Dr Julieta Marotta & Abigail Daley “Because women have an incredible amount of power that should not be ignored when it comes to building a sustainable future.” International Women’s Day gives us a yearly moment to reflect on gender equality and remind ourselves of our progress and the progress we still need to make. The Master of Science programme in Public Policy and Human Development (MPP), with the support of UNU-MERIT, emphasises its commitment to gender equality by taking direct action in the presence of women in education, their role in leadership, and the further steps society needs to take to welcome their contributions. This academic year, we celebrate the follo...

A colleague, friend and trusted advisor to many of us across the institute, Prof. Gabriela Dutrénit has worked with UNU-MERIT for decades, as a lecturer on our DEIP innovation workshops, and as a member of our International Advisory Board. In this brief portrait, Howard Hudson interviews Prof. Dutrénit to find out more about the woman behind the titles. … Born in 1957 in Uruguay, Gabriela has been an activist, community coordinator and human rights defender for almost half a century. A leader of school marches against poverty and political repression, she was twice jailed as a teenager before fleeing the country aged 17 – in some ways following in the footsteps of her mother, who was herself...

A new paper co-authored by Prof. Luc Soete brings business and science perspectives to the most pressing global issues of our time. Set against the macro backdrops of climate change and the coronavirus pandemic, the authors investigate ‘technological sovereignty’ and ‘knowledge safety’ in Africa and Europe — particularly vis-à-vis China, the USA and the World Health Organization. They also analyse the sanctity of intellectual property rights, amid the ongoing tensions between ‘open science’ supporters on the one hand and devotees of technological competitiveness on the other. … Last year’s COP26 conference drew global attention to the science a...

The circumstances are still what they are: a lot of colleagues have either had COVID or are still suffereing from it. So the institute is still mostly closed down, there are not many people around, so maybe it’s good that we try to take cover for the next few weeks. Nonetheless, despite the usual COVID restrictions, we have been able to move on with the Strategic Plan and its implementation. We’ve made several steps in the past month and actually created an Implementation Timeline page on our website, where we show the progress of the different steps month by month. ...

Two new flagship programmes from UNU-MERIT, coming under the banner of ‘Comprehensive Innovation for Sustainable Development‘ (CI4SD), feature in the first ever UN Climate Change Innovation Compendium, in chapters focusing on the Green Economy and on Capacity Strengthening. … We live in times of unprecedented global challenges – climate change is one of the greatest threats we face. Catastrophic heat waves, wildfires, floods, drought, storms and other natural disasters linked to climate and weather extremes are affecting millions of people around the world. But we also live in times of unprecedented opportunities. Innovative approaches and new and existing technologies comb...

In July 2021, several European countries including Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands were affected by catastrophic floods, causing deaths and widespread damage. Such extreme weather events are expected to increase in both frequency and severity in the coming decades, according to the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). To understand the risks of climate change and examine how vulnerabilities can be reduced, United Nations University (UNU) institutes in Germany (UNU-EHS), Belgium (UNU-CRIS) and the Netherlands (UNU-MERIT) have launched the ‘UNU Climate Resilience Initiative’. Working with partners across the main flood-affected countries in Europe, as w...

Migrant returnees arrive to El Salvador from Belize, with the support of the IOM’s Assisted Voluntary Return Program. © IOM 2020 / Elena MONTOYA It is commonly understood by return and reintegration practitioners that the type of return, namely whether a person returned voluntarily or not, can influence the overall reintegration process and, above all, its sustainability. As underlined in IOM’s Policy on the Full Spectrum of Return, Readmission and Reintegration, “voluntary returns are always preferable because they take into account the migrant’s agency to make informed decisions, leading to consent; allow returnees to prepare for their return as owners of the process; and contribute to red...

Recent years have seen the topic of migration rise to the top of political agendas in many parts of the Global North, propelled by images of overcrowded boats on the Mediterranean and migrant caravans in Central America. In recent weeks tragic events have been unfolding a stone’s throw from the Netherlands, in the English Channel, and on the borders of Belarus. For better or worse, policymakers at different levels of governance have responded to these events. Migration was a central feature of the campaign that ultimately saw the United Kingdom leave the European Union (EU) on the 1 January 2021. Just over a year ago, on 23 September 2020, the EU proposed a new Pact on Migration and Asylum t...

Researcher Hugo Hollanders and Prof. Jo Ritzen contributed to the Global Knowledge Index 2021, commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation. The Global Knowledge Index monitors the knowledge status of 154 countries across areas including education, innovation, and information & communications technology. Now covering 232 indicators, it is aims to help policymakers, researchers, civil society and the private sector to bridge knowledge gaps and foster knowledge-based societies. The index shows how countries across the Global South need more support in quality education, decent work and regulatory frameworks, but also h...

Prof. Melissa Siegel received the Distinguished Alumna Award from the College of Charleston, USA on 20 November 2021. This award was established to recognise those alumni who have made significant contributions to their professions or to their communities over a long period of time, thus reflecting favourably on the College of Charleston. Prof. Siegel received her Bachelors in Economics with a Minor in Business from the College of Charleston and graduated from the Honors College in 2003. Prof. Melissa Siegel said: “What I like so much [about my current role] is that I work for Maastricht University but also for the United Nations University and that means I get flexibility and to work ...