Meet the new UNU-MERIT board member Behnam Taebi As a child, Behnam Taebi was interested in nothing more than understanding how everything works, making his education and training as a material science engineer an obvious professional choice. Now, however, Taebi works as a leading ethicist and philosopher in the fields of climate change and energy, developing ethical frameworks from which to address the trials and tribulations of our times. From serving as a researcher and professor at De...
Oil prices shot up following the US assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, rising more than US$5 per barrel to more than US$71 (£54) on January 6, its highest level since the Saudi oil refinery attack last September. Brent crude has since eased to around US$69 at the time of writing, though there is much discussion that it could climb a lot higher if the current crisis leads to an all-out war. In keeping with many recent developments in US-Iranian relations, the Europeans have taken ...
The Joint Research Centre is quite a unique institution at international level: we produce scientific studies and reports that feed into the work of colleagues in other Directorates-General – who in turn are responsible for designing EU Regulations and Directives. We contribute to the policymaking process both before a policy is adopted (i.e. doing scientific investigations of what may be the best solution for a given problem) and after a policy is adopted (i.e. evaluating its real-world impact ...
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 President Jonathan, Nigeria rebased its gross domestic product (GDP) from 1990 to 2010. This resulted in an 89% increase in the estimated size of the economy. As a result, the country now has the largest...