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Autumn Newsletter HELLO and WELCOME to our fourth quarterly newsletter of 2016, rounding up the latest news and events from UNU-MERIT. We explore the push and pull of international development: innovation through science and entrepreneurship, and governance through public policy analysis. Coming up, we look forward to celebrating World Science Day for Peace & Development with the UN Office of the Director-General in Geneva, 10 November, and World Toilet Day at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi, 19-20 November. |
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Latest News - Our top news is that PhD fellow Hans-Erik Edsand from Sweden has won the Best PhD Student Paper Award at the 2016 ‘Globelics’ Conference in Indonesia, for his work on ‘Technological Innovation Systems and the Wider Context: A Framework for Developing Countries’. - Another winner was Ana Cristina Calderon Ramirez, a PhD Fellow on our GPAC² programme, who beat 100 other researchers to win Best Paper Award at the International Public Procurement Conference 7 (IPPC7), for her work on ‘Elements of public procurement reform and their effect on the public sector in Latin America and the Caribbean’. |
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Upcoming Events - Come celebrate World Science Day for Peace & Development, 10 November, with a creative brainstorm on the SDGs. Channel your inner powers of storytelling and understanding with the latest UN tools, including the UNU Jargon Buster. Join us in Geneva for this special session at the UN Office of the Director-General. - Prof. Shyama Ramani will lead a two-day conference in New Delhi on 19-20 November to mark World Toilet Day, 19 November. Both days of this conference will be useful to students and academics working on technology and innovation for SDGs, as well as practitioners interested in academic research findings for strategy or policy design. |
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Recent Publications - A new report for UNICEF Moldova was co-authored by Prof. Franziska Gassmann, Dr. Victor Cebotari, Dr. Michaella Vanore and researcher Hanna Röth. The report assessed the current social protection system in Moldova for vulnerable children and families facing shocks, disasters and crises in the country. - The European Innovation Scoreboard 2016 was co-authored by Hugo Hollanders, Nordine Es-Sadki and Minna Kanerva. According to the 2016 Scoreboard, the EU is catching up with global innovation leaders, but innovation is still being held back by low business investment and restrictive framework conditions. |
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Alumni Activities - What are our Master’s graduates up to, one, two… or 10 years down the road? To find out, we launched 'Humans of MPP', a new portrait series on our MPP Alumni Facebook Group: where former students tell us about their career paths, their most vivid memories of Maastricht, advice to prospective students, etc. The series starts with contributions from Mikolaj Drodz, now at the World Food Programme, and Noemi Calzone, at the International Organization for Migration. |
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New Applications - We are now accepting applications for our next Evidence-Based Policy Research Methods (EPRM) course, to start January 2017. This blended programme of online and face-to-face modules, targets researchers from academic institutions or policymakers in developing or developed countries seeking to strengthen their research competencies and outputs. It can also serve as capacity building for staff in universities, research units within businesses, NGOs, ministries and think tanks. Application deadline: 19 December 2016. More information here. |
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Multimedia - Until next time, in early January, please check our social media accounts on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube. Recent videos include a light-hearted look at the international makeup of UNU-MERIT. Meanwhile, our ‘Mygration Story’ series continues to cover the family histories of staff, including Nora Ragab's German-Palestinian ancestors. Another series focused on the 1st anniversary of the SDGs, presenting a new monitoring tool to hold governments to account. Finally, stay up-to-date on all our major publications via our monthly ‘press review’. |
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