The UNU-WIDER Discussion Paper “The Global Economic Crisis: Towards Syndrome-Free Recovery for Africa” considers the impact of the global economic crisis on Africa and the recovery efforts that will be required to respond.

The UNU-WIDER Research Paper “When to Start a New Firm?: Modelling the Timing of Novice and Serial Entrepreneurs” provides a theoretical model to determine the optimal time for starting a new firm.

This UNU-CRIS Working Paper reviews the various ways of looking at regional economic disparities and the necessary data requirements and sources for computing different types of disparity indicators.

UNU, in collaboration with the UN OSAA and OHRLLS, held a side event on 25 June at UN HQ in New York in conjunction with the UN Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development.

This UNU-CRIS Working Paper suggests that the proliferation of regional economic agreements in East Asia in the years since the financial crisis has been driven a “political domino” effect rather than by economic factors.

On 6 July, UNU Rector Konrad Osterwalder addressed an audience of almost 1,000 participants from 148 countries at the second World Conference on Higher Education, at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. Attendees included government ministers, university rectors, faculty and students as well as representatives of the private sector and regional and multilateral institutions.

The conference drew on the experiences…

UNU Rector Osterwalder delivered a keynote address at this June forum in Beijing, which was co-organized by the UNU.

On 1 July, during an official visit to Tokyo at the invitation of the government of Japan, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited the United Nations University Headquarters. After being welcomed by UNU Rector Konrad Osterwalder, the Secretary-General first met with the heads of UN agencies in Japan.

Secretary-General Ban then spoke at a “town hall” meeting…

This 8-page UNU-MERIT policy brief looks at the recent, rapid rise in overseas investments by Indian and Chinese firms

At the 2nd German-Indian Conference on Research for Sustainability. organized and co-hosted by UNU-ViE, policy makers and scientists discussed topics of sustainability science.

Adaptation to climate change has emerged as one of the most important concerns in the global development agenda. However, the knowledge gap on adaptation is vast; knowledge and expertise remains primarily at the international level, and is not reaching those in the developing world who need it most. Higher education institutions can play a critical role…

This UNU-EHS policy brief provides an overview of the global urbanization process and analyses the development and complexity of modern megacities.

The report “In Search of Shelter: Mapping the Effects of Climate Change on Human Migration and Displacement”, by Dr. Koko Warner (UNU-EHS) and Dr. Charles Ehrhart (CARE International), highlights that climate change is already contributing to migration and displacement and predicts that there will be tens of millions of migrants within the next few years.

These findings…

At a UNU-WIDER seminar on the impact of the global recession on the poorest countries, UNU-WIDER Senior Researcher Wim Naudé painted a grim portrait of the consequences of ignoring Africa.

This UNU-WIDER book, published by Oxford University Press, is the first to systematically document the extent of the distribution of personal (household) wealth across the world.

In recognition of World Environment Day 2009, UNU has collaborated with YouTube Japan to support a special channel called Think Green.

More than 15 million viewers access YouTube each month in Japan. In order to help this community find videos that encourage them to think about environmental topics, YouTube has collaborated with some of its premium partners…

In the last week of May, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon paid a visit to UNU-WIDER in Helsinki as part of his first official mission to Finland. After greeting members of the UNU-WIDER staff, the Secretary-General was formally welcomed by UNU-WIDER Deputy Director and Officer-in-Charge Professor Augustin Fosu. Following a briefing on the work of UNU-WIDER, the Secretary-General expressed his thanks and pointed out that the institute has a key role to play in the current global turndown.

Secretary-General Ban added that he was looking to research institutes like UNU-WIDER to use their analytical capacity to promote understanding of the multitude of crises facing the world and to stimulate debate on how to assist the poorest and most vulnerable people, particularly in Africa.

The paper “Designing plans for organizational development, lessons from three large-scale SME-initiatives”, derived from the UNU-MERIT Strategic Innovation project, was selected as the IIE’s 2009 Best Track Paper in Engineering Management.

On 18 May, renowned mexican scientist and educator José Sarukhán delivered a lecture at UNU Headquarters in Tokyo on the benefits and chaallenges of preserving biodiversity.

UNU-MERIT research fellows present a report on measuring creativity, design and innovation at the national level at an international conference in Brussels in May.

Professor Finn Tarp of Denmark has been appointed as the next Director of the UNU World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER). Director-Designate Tarp will take up the post on 1 September 2009. He succeeds Prof. Anthony Shorrocks, who served as UNU-WIDER Director from 1 January 2001 through 30 April 2009.

UNU-WIDER, based in Helsinki, Finland, undertakes…

“The Financial Crisis and Its Impact on Africa” was the subject of this year’s UNU Africa Day Symposium, held May 25 at UNU Headquarters in Tokyo. These symposiums are organised annually by UNU and the African Diplomatic Corps in Tokyo with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. This year we celebrated the tenth…

The 2009 six-week session of the UNU International Courses commenced on 11 May, attended by 51 postgraduate students and young professionals from 40 countries.

What were the key activities and achievements of the UNU in 2008? You can read about them, and more, in the United Nations University 2008 Annual Report.