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Winter Newsletter - Welcome to our first newsletter of 2022, rounding up all the latest news and views on our research, training and education programmes. - Here we look back over recent weeks, including several awards won by staff and students alike. We also look forward to seeing new applications for our PhD programme on Innovation, Economics and Governance for Development (IEGD), with the next deadline set for 28 February 2022. - With our strategy process complete, we now have a new branding focused on 'Comprehensive Innovation for Sustainable Development' (CI4SD). More on that below! |
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Latest News - Our ‘Comprehensive Innovation for Sustainable Development’ (CI4SD) team led by Dr. Lili Wang has won €250,000 in ‘Merian’ funding from the Dutch Research Council and the Chinese Academy of Sciences for a vertical farming project entitled, ‘GREENFARM’. Her team will work with counterparts at Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands, the Institute of Botany at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Institute of Genetics and Development Biology in China. Read more here >>> - Contributions from some 40 UNU-MERIT researchers and lecturers helped Maastricht University’s School of Business and Economics (SBE) claim second place out of almost 150 business schools in the Corporate Knights’ 2021 Better World MBA ranking. According to this latest global ranking, SBE is the #1 business school in Europe for sustainability, and the only EU-based school to feature in the Top 20. Read more here >>> - Our Master of Science in Public Policy and Human Development (MPP) made it into the Top 20 of the Going BEYOND Award from the ‘Global Business School Network’, a non-profit organisation founded by the World Bank in 2003, based in Washington DC, USA. The award recognises programmes and initiatives that demonstrate a positive impact on society, and that go BEYOND traditional offerings from academic institutions and research journals. Read more here >>> - Prof. Melissa Siegel received the Distinguished Alumna Award from the College of Charleston, USA on 20 November 2021. This award was established to recognise those alumni who have made significant contributions to their professions or to their communities over a long period of time, thus reflecting favourably on the College of Charleston. Read more here >>> - Researcher Hugo Hollanders and Prof. Jo Ritzen contributed to the Global Knowledge Index 2021, commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation. The Global Knowledge Index monitors the knowledge status of 154 countries across areas including education, innovation, and information & communications technology. Read more here >>> |
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Recent Publications - What are the major drivers of structural change — technology, trade, policy or pressure groups? A new book published by Oxford University Press investigates the causes and consequences of structural change across the global economy, particularly in terms of inclusiveness and sustainability. This edited volume provides a comprehensive overview of the major debates surrounding structural change, from the intellectual foundations through historical trends to the latest analyses. Why does rapid technological change result in higher global GDP, but also higher inequalities between countries? A new working paper based on computational modelling carried out at UNU-MERIT, argues that low income countries need special measures to foster innovation and emulation, with a view to increasing the set of technologies available in their economies — so they are not left behind. Read all our December publications >>> including two books, four journal articles and six reports. - What social protection innovations were implemented in response to the COVID-19 crisis? A new report commissioned by UNDP found that almost all countries required innovative practices to quickly deliver social protection to those usually excluded from benefits, including informal-sector workers, refugees and migrants. Are entrepreneurs in Kenya’s informal sector more likely to receive goods and services on credit when using mobile money? A new working paper says that mobile money can indirectly improve the welfare of non-business customers, so should be encouraged to help ensure financial inclusion and economic development. Read all our November publications >>> including five journal articles, two book chapters and one report. - Do countries’ research priorities match their SDG challenges? Will science and technology inequalities prove a barrier to success? A new policy brief argues that funders, donors and international organisations should review their research priorities — by consulting with a wider range of stakeholders and assessing the unequal impacts on society of research itself. Can social protection policies improve the educational achievements, as well as the mental and physical health, of immigrant students? A new article based on research conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlights the need for a broader understanding of academic resilience — an understanding that recognises the physical and psychosocial issues among immigrants, which are typically not captured by large-scale assessments. Read all our October publications >>> including five journal articles, two book chapters and one report. |
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Application Deadlines - Apply by 28 February 2022 for our full-time PhD programme on Innovation, Economics and Governance for Development (IEGD). Our programme offers a unique window on pressing global challenges, including climate action, the digital transformation, poverty and inequality, and their impact on human and economic sustainable development. - Find out more about our full-time PhD fellows, from their research themes to career ambitions via our 'PhD Profiles' series. Recent stories cover how women scientists are at the forefront of COVID-19 research, and how a PhD candidate won a World Bank fellowship on development economics. |
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Alumni Activities - Master’s alumna Claire Tan Sze Eng has won the best thesis award at the Dutch Demography Day 2021 for her dissertation entitled, ‘Returning to a home without a future: The effect of migrant trajectories and experiences on the reintegration of Albanian rejected asylum-seekers’. Read more here >>> - Master’s alumni Vivien Csapliczky and Job Zomerplaag have won the biennial ‘Kremers Award’ for having written the best dissertations on regional innovation from a socio-economic perspective. Their theses respectively focused on regional development and digitalisation in southwest Hungary and the (dis)empowerment of community initiatives in the southeast of the Netherlands. Read more here >>> - Master’s alumnus Manuj Bhardwaj, a lawyer from India, has been awarded a United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) programme scholarship, 2021-23, from the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation. IPCC Secretary Abdallah Mokssit called the programme “an important step in the fight against climate change enabling the implementation of innovative and efficient solutions”. Read more here >>> |
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Multimedia - Until next time, in early April, please check our social media accounts on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. You can also stay up-to-date on all our major publications via our monthly ‘First Impressions’ roundup. - In the meantime, check out our new video on the Governance of Innovation course from our Master's in Public Policy and Human Development, as well as special posts marking International Migrants Day and International Anti-Corruption Day, plus our latest op-ed in The Conversation. |
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