On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic and precautionary measures have been elevated since then around the world, to contain the disease as much as possible. One important measure has been to close down all schools and universities and shifting to online education. For those of us working in the education sector, the shift to online teaching has been challenging, requiring us to revise our approaches to teaching and setting exams. New skills are...

For every Master’s Open Day, we welcome prospective students and give them a general overview of the programme and its seven specialisations. We also invite our alumni to share their views on how the programme prepared them for their careers in international development, among others. On our latest Open Day in March 2020, we caught up with two alumni who reflected on the programme and their careers to-date. Welcome back and thank you for taking the time to visit us! Let’s first have a brief roun...

"If you’re thinking about taking the MPP at UNU-MERIT, do it! You will find an international environment, amazing professors, both as human beings and as academics. And you will obtain tools and a knowledge to make a difference in the field of public policy.” Dr. Andrés Mideros Mora...

We are delighted to announce that Dr. Carlos Cadena Gaitán, a graduate of our PhD programme, has been named Transport Secretary for the City of Medellín, Colombia. Dr. Cadena Gaitán is a well-known transport and environmental activist. He is co-founder of La Ciudad Verde (the Green City) initiative, project coordinator of the Low Carbon City Forum, and various other artistic and cultural organisations. In recognition of his work, he received the ‘Future Sustainability Leader’ award in Oslo in Ju...

During our Master’s Open Day, we welcome prospective students and give them a general overview of the programme and its seven specialisations. We also invite alumni back to share how the programme prepared them to kick-start their careers in international development. On our Open Day in November 2019, I caught up with four alumni from different cohorts who reflected on the programme and their careers. Welcome back — thank you for taking the time to visit us! Let’s first have a brief ...

The Peruvian in-service programme is a nationwide intervention intended to improve teachers’ ability to perform, and its final objective is to increase student achievement. The programme, delivered since 2008, includes a three-year systematic process of monthly meetings with a supervisor (coach), which usually take the form of personal coaching, workshops and conferences. During those meetings, the coach discusses directly how to improve with the selected teachers and suggests pedagogical proces...

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Lieutenant General Dennis Gyllensporre of Sweden as Force Commander of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). Lieutenant General Gyllensporre holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Maastricht University, gained in 2010 via our Dual Career Training Programme in Governance and Policy Analysis (GPAC²). His thesis focused on ‘Competing and Complementarity Perspectives on the EU as a Crisis Actor – Manage...

As coordinators of the Evidence-Based Policy Research Methods (EPRM) programme our job is to look after our participants, not only when they are physically in Maastricht but also when they join us online. We assign course tutors, individual research tutors, and modular coordinators – including Dr. Oxana Slobozhan, who graduated from our full-time PhD programme in 2014. Now based in Turkey, Oxana coordinates EPRM module two, where participants turn their research ideas into full proposals. What d...

We recently caught up with Dr. Andrea Franco-Correa of Colombia, who graduated from our PhD programme in January 2017. She defended her thesis ‘On the measurement of multidimensional poverty as a policy tool: The case of Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru’ — and has since started work at the Colombian Institute for Family Welfare....

A PhD can be a game-changer for your career, especially at a research institute or international organisation. But not for everyone. Paul Caldron, one of our recent GPAC2 graduates, is a medical doctor approaching the end of his career – and in many ways he valued personal over professional development. … Paul, why exactly did you join our part-time PhD programme? As you would expect, my answer will be non-traditional. When my kids had all left home, and my practice efficiency had improved to th...