Last month, the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth ran a campaign to celebrate International Youth Day (which falls on 12th August every year). This initiative was aimed at showcasing young people’s resilience, resourcefulness and leadership to create a better world for all under the theme of “Celebrating Ways Youth Lead as Agents of Change for the Global Goals”. Ahmed Hussain – a student of our MSc in Public Policy and Human Development (MPP) programme – was one of the young leaders featured in...

The Dutch Minister of Defence, Kajsa Ollongren, tells UNU-MERIT how the Netherlands seeks to support United Nations operations in Europe and abroad   Given its small population (17.5 million) and geographical footprint (with one-fifth the land area of an average U.S. state), the Netherlands has outsized military power, ranking 39 in the GlobalFirepower Index. How is the nation using its strength, both in Europe and beyond? Appointed in 2022, Dutch Minister of Defence Kajsa Ollongren has pol...

Covering climate change to green tech, here are the key findings from this year so far! We’re halfway through our self-set timeline to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and fast approaching the 2030 deadline of the framework put forth in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, so it seems that now is the right moment to reflect on the following questions: 🟢 Where do we stand? 🟢 What opportunities are there to overcome our challenges and grow in new directions? 🟢 Where do we go fr...

 United Nations University – MERIT · Director´s Corner Podcast – Nov 2022   In this episode of the Director’s Corner Podcast, Director Bartel Van de Walle chats with Kathleen Hopewell, new Student Ambassador of the MPP Programme. In this conversation, Bartel shares with Kathleen insights gained from his career as a young academic through to the benefits and challenges of being director of UNU-MERIT. He answers students’ questions and gives his thoughts on making the...

United Nations University – MERIT · Director’s Corner – Oct 2022   In this episode of the Director’s Corner, Prof. Bartel Van de Walle in conversation with Keith Burnet, Senior Advisor in Communications at UNU-MERIT, discusses how the institute’s Computational Innovation Lab – our new center of expertise on data, artificial intelligence and computational modelling – will help UNU-MERIT, the broader UN family and other policy-makers understand global trans...

UNU-MERIT · Director’s Corner – Sept 2022   In this month’s episode of the Director’s Corner, Prof. Bartel Van de Walle welcomes staff and students to the institute after the summer break and outlines his plans for the autumn. In conversation with Keith Burnet, Senior Advisor, Communications, he explains why research and education at MERIT is a two-way process and flags the benefits of working and studying in Maastricht.  ...

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.  Ne...