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United Nations University

The United Nations University (UNU) is a global research and postgraduate teaching organisation headquartered in Japan. The mission of the UNU is to contribute, through collaborative research and education, to efforts to resolve the pressing global problems of human survival, development and welfare that are the concern of the United Nations, its Peoples and Member States, working with leading universities and research institutes and functioning as a bridge between the international academic community and the United Nations system.

The University encompasses 14 institutes located in 12 countries around the world. Through postgraduate teaching activities, UNU contributes to capacity building, particularly in developing countries. As part of the UN family of organisations, the University maintains close working relationships with other UN agencies, programmes, commissions, funds and convention secretariats.

The UN University undertakes cross-cultural, interdisciplinary research (utilising innovative, science-based techniques and methodologies to study important global processes and elaborate forward-looking solutions) and targeted foresight and policy studies (aimed at developing policy-relevant prescriptions and evaluating the feasibility and comparative advantages of each option). It provides postgraduate-level education (degree-oriented programmes and specialised training focused on problems and solutions rather than academic disciplines) and capacity development activities (aimed at helping developing and transitional countries to enhance local potential to address current problems/confront emergent challenges). It also promotes knowledge sharing and transfer (to deliver relevant information about UN University research, current scientific advances and best practices, in a timely manner and in a usable form, to those who most need it and can best use it).

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Displaying 21 - 40 of 154 articles
Bottled water corporations exploit surface water and aquifers, buy water at a very low cost and sell it for 150 to 1,000 times more than the same unit of municipal tap water. (Shutterstock)

How the bottled water industry is masking the global water crisis

Zeineb Bouhlel, United Nations University and Vladimir Smakhtin, United Nations University

The bottled water industry can undermine progress of projects aimed at creating safe-water systems for all, by redirecting attention to a less reliable, less affordable option.
Ugandans watch the start of the International Criminal Court trial of former child soldier-turned-warlord Dominic Ongwen. Isaac Kasamani/AFP via Getty Images

Slavery and war are tightly connected – but we had no idea just how much until we crunched the data

Monti Datta, University of Richmond; Angharad Smith, United Nations University, and Kevin Bales, University of Nottingham

Armed conflicts today involve slavery in many different forms, from forced marriage to child soldiers.
Internet technologies have meant that the public sphere has now become digital, but what does that mean for its ownership? (Gian Cescon/Unsplash)

Elon Musk’s proposed takeover of Twitter raises questions about its role in the digital social infrastructure

Eleonore Fournier-Tombs, United Nations University

Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter is seen as a threat to the digital public square. International regulation is required to protect internet users’ access to democratic public spaces.
Shiny backgrounds for photo opportunities figure prominently at the 2022 AU-EU summit in Brussels. Photo by European Union

AU-EU summit: what stands in the way of a deeper relationship

Frank Mattheis, United Nations University

The 2022 summit between the European Union and the African Union seeks to renew the intercontinental partnership with massive investments. However, structural patterns of inequality persist.
Rosa Eugenia uses a capulana masks produced at a small sewing workshop in Maputo, Mozambique. EFE-EPA/Ricardo Franco

Efforts to protect the poor during COVID: how five African countries fared

Jesse Lastunen, United Nations University; Pia Rattenhuber, United Nations University, and Rodrigo Carvalho Oliveira, United Nations University

Study shows that agriculture, one of the most important sectors, did not decline in 2020 compared to its historical trend. Service sectors were hit hard in each of the five countries.

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