Prof. Dr. Konrad Osterwalder, Rector of the UN University, is the recipient of the 2009 Matteo Ricci International Award. Established in 1998 by the Faculty of Political Science of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Milan), the award recognizes the unique contributions of individuals to bridge cultural and intellectual divides for the betterment of mankind.
The award ceremony, held on 27 Oct., marked the fourth time this award has been bestowed. In his speech, delivered in Italian, Rector Osterwalder recognized the role of dialogue, justice, dignity, risk and responsibility as defining features of humanity. He affirmed that the UNU is uniquely placed to encourage the dialogue of trust among cultures that is necessary to arrive at viable responses to sustainable global development.
Recent Posts
- The impact of the EU on regionalization elsewhere
- UNU, Dentsu sign collaboration agreement
- UNU Holds two global seminars in Africa
- UNU Rector Osterwalder receives Matteo Ricci Award
- UN Day Symposium looks at human security
- Strengthening the global food architecture
- Prof Plate retires as UNU-EHS advisor
- Assessing sub-regional cooperation in Europe
- UNU affiliated economist wins Nobel Prize
We’ve “updated” UNU Update
Since spring 2000, the United Nations University has been publishing the online UNU Update newsletter on a schedule that has ranged from monthly to quarterly. But, with advances in technology and reader expectations, it’s time for a change. There will be no more numbered, “static” issues of UNU Update. Instead, the new UNU Update will appear in a dynamic blog-based e-zine format (as you see here), with new articles uploaded as soon as they are ready.
(For those care about the technical details, UNU Update is now being published on a WordPress platform using a modified Branford Magazine theme.)
Featured Articles
UN Day Symposium looks at human security
United Nations Day (UN Day) is observed annually worldwide on 24 October to commemorate the founding of the United Nations in October 1945. To celebrate UN Day 2009, on Friday, 23 October, the UNU presented an academic symposium and, along with UN agencies in Japan, welcomed the public to outdoor activities, exhibitions and performances at United Nations…
UNU/UNESCO Conference focuses on Africa and Globalization
Day 1 — Monday, 28 September 2009
Over 300 people gathered in U Thant Hall at UNU Headquarters in Tokyo on Monday, 28 September, for day 1 of the 2009 UNU/UNESCO international conference on “Africa and Globalization: Learning from the Past, Enabling a Better Future”. Japanese government representatives Tetsuro Fukuyama (MOFA), and Masaharu Nakagawa (MEXT) offered opening…
Experts urge global standards for electronics reuse, recycling
In 2006, more than 1 billion cell phones, 230 million computers, and 45 million TVs were sold worldwide. What will be the fate of these complex electronic products when they are eventually replaced or discarded?
The sad fact is that much of the world’s electronic scrap ends up in developing countries, where it typically is incinerated to…
One person can make a difference
In the Our World 2.0 article “One man inspiring Hope”, Hope He tells the story of Wan Ping, a former thermo-dynmics engineer who nine years ago founded an ecological demonstration area in the Khorchin district of northeastern China. His efforts have established a windbreak that has stabilized moving dunes, achieved a 95% green coverage rate in the demonstration area, and increased local precipitation.
Other News
UNU, Dentsu sign collaboration agreement
The UNU has signed an agreement with and Japanese advertising and media company Dentsu to collaborate on joint projects. The aim is to “garner the wisdom of humankind” in search of new values for the twenty-first century.
Prof Plate retires as UNU-EHS advisor
In September, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. e.H. Erich J. Plate retired from the Advisory Committee of UNU-EHS. He had been a member since the inauguration of the committee in 2003, when UNU-EHS was founded.
UNU affiliated economist wins Nobel Prize
The co-winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize for Economics, Elinor Ostrom, has been associated with UNU-WIDER for more than a decade. She a contributor to the UNU-WIDER research project on Land Distribution, Land Reform and Economic Growth and more recently worked on the 2004 UNU-WIDER conference on “Unlocking Human Potential”.
Event Reports
UNU Holds two global seminars in Africa
In October, the UNU held sessions of its Global Seminar series in Namibia and Ghana. The former considered “Africa’s Natural Resources: From Conflict to Sustainable Development” while the latter focused on “Strategies for Sustainable Development and the Pressures of Globalization”.
UNU hosts "science and technology" lectures
As part of the UNU’s continued focus on Africa, Prof. Mohamed H.A. Hassan and Prof. Joseph O. Malo delivered lectures on “Science and Technology: The African Perspectives” at UNU Headquarters in Tokyo.
UNU Shonan Global Seminar Turns 25
This year marked the 25th anniversary of the UNU Global Seminar – Shonan Session. Under the theme of “Global Challenges and East Asian Responses”, the 2009 seminar addressed the impacts of globalization on the region and the initiatives being taken by various actors in response.
Publications
The impact of the EU on regionalization elsewhere
The EU and World Regionalism, co-edited by Philippe De Lombaerde of UNU-CRIS, investigates the impact that the EU has on regionalization in other parts of the world, and whether that impact has been direct as well as indirect.
Strengthening the global food architecture
The 2008 episode of food price explosion, political turmoil, and human suffering revealed important flaws in the current global food architecture. This UNU-WIDER paper argues that four failures in market functioning and policymaking need to be addressed.
Assessing sub-regional cooperation in Europe
This BRIGG paper provides an assessment of the new European sub-regional groups. It explores why and how sub-regionalism has proliferated in Europe since the 1990s, analyses what functions sub-regional groups perform, and evaluates their significance.
