News

There are now 59.5 million refugees worldwide, according to the latest figures from UNHCR. Ahead of World Refugee Day, 20 June 2015, we assembled a roundtable of experts — Prof. Ronald Skeldon, Dr. Melissa Siegel, and Dr. Katie Kuschminder — to put the major issues in perspective: from M...

UNICEF’s latest report on the ‘State of the World’s Children’ says there are 150 million 5-to-17-year-olds caught up in the world of work. Ahead of ‘World Day Against Child Labour‘, 12 June, Dr. Sepideh Yousefzadeh looks at the essential context with a case study from Iran. I...

For a long time, the divide between ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ economies has been wide and persistent, giving rise to development economics as a specialised field. Yet with economic interactions between nations rising strongly over the past decades, economics in a broad sen...

Technology can buy us time in a failing environment, but ultimately it will not save us. To be effective, environmental policies need support from all levels of society: from national ministries to local communities. These are just two of the messages from Prof. René Kemp ahead of World Environment ...

Dr. Franziska Gassmann was made Professor in the Department of Social Security Studies at the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Science (HBRS), Germany, on 28 May 2015. She was welcomed and confirmed in the role by University President Prof. Hartmut Ihne, in a signing ceremony attended by Dr. Es...

How far can ICT help education and development in Africa? Will too much emphasis on ICT cause a ‘digital divide’, leading to ever greater inequalities? Dr. Mindel van de Laar sends her insights from this year’s eLearning Africa conference. In the heart of the Ethiopian capital, the...

Tomorrow, 29 May, will see the inauguration of Muhammadu Buhari as Nigerian president — the first time an opposition candidate has defeated the incumbent since independence in 1960. But what should be his priorities? PhD fellow Ayokunu Adedokun proposes a seven-point agenda – four alread...

In a seminar on 26 May 2015, Ewen MacLeod, Head of the Policy Development and Evaluation Service (PDES) of the UN Refugee Agency, focused on the impact of emerging global trends – population growth, climate change, urbanisation, and migration – on current arrangements for the management of forced di...

Nobel laureate John Nash — who died on 23 May — stands in the same line as Smith, Ricardo, Walras and Keynes in having shaped economic thinking. But he was even more, argues Prof. Shyama V. Ramani in this tribute to the genius of game theory. Unlike other giants of economic philosophy, N...

Nepal was struck by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake on 25 April — a disaster that killed thousands of people. Many more were injured or displaced, including countless children. PhD fellow Vincenzo Vinci, who works for UNICEF Nepal, sent this update as part of a Q&A with GPAC² Director Dr. Minde...

Innovations from ICT — and the roll out of these technologies — touch every aspect of our lives. They are shaping political agendas and can help us achieve our development goals. Ahead of this Sunday’s  ‘World Telecommunication & Information Society Day‘, PhD fellow...

In an earlier post, PhD fellow Ayokunu Adedokun outlined a bold agenda for the president-elect — issues that he says are key to long-term peace, security and inclusive development in Nigeria. In this second post, he looks at energy and economic reforms. Diversification of the economy Under Pre...

Last week’s UK elections put the Conservative Party firmly back in power. What does this mean for the ‘man on the street’, for teachers and carers? To clarify the economic backdrop, PhD Fellow Mary Kaltenberg examined wage distributions across the UK. The story she found is stark: ...

Mahmud Henry Rogers graduated from our Master’s programme in 2012 and is now standing as a candidate in the UK parliamentary elections on 7 May 2015. He is contesting the seat of Bedford and Kempston, located around 50 miles (80 km) north of London. Inspired by his time in Maastricht, Mahmud c...

Maastricht University (UM) has ranked among the top 10 in the Times Higher Education (THE) 100 Under 50 ranking for the third year running, making it the sixth best young university in the world. The list was revealed at the Young Universities Summit in Dublin, where Rector Magnificus Prof. Luc Soet...

Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed of Mauritania was appointed UN Special Envoy for Yemen on 25 April 2015. He holds an Advanced Certificate in Economics and Social Policy Analysis from the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance — a course run by Dr. Franziska Gassmann. In a statement, a UN spokespers...

Twenty-five years of European border restrictions have not only failed to curb immigration but have actually had counterproductive results — through an increase in irregular migration and an increasing dependence of migrants on smugglers, argues Prof. Hein de Haas. In recent months, a record n...

Political history was made in Nigeria exactly a month ago. Incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) lost to former military leader Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressive Congress (APC). No incumbent president has ever lost an election in Nigeria since independenc...

Each year, 26 April, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) marks World IP Day. The day helps showcase how intellectual property inspires innovation and creativity — yet recent research gives another perspective. For example, how TRIPs type agreements may be stifling ‘develo...

Described as “an astonishing inspiration for leaders around the world for how to mobilise people, create change in your local community and see the international effects,” PhD alumnus and affiliated researcher Dr. Carlos Cadena Gaitan has won the 2015 Future Sustainability Leader award. ...