News

Girls consistently outperform boys on reading tests – and have done so for several decades around the world. Lack of motivation, a weak vocabulary, poor reading engagement and lack of role models have all been considered possible reasons for this disparity....

How to master the art of compromise? “So these would be my last words to you as future policymakers: Try to see a compromise not as a watered down opinion, but as a very strong common ground.” Lilianne Ploumen Enter keywords...

BIGPROD’s official kick-off meeting took place at the Maastricht University Brussels Campus on 22 January 2020. The goal of the BIGPROD project is to extend existing econometric approaches to productivity, such as the Crepon-Duguet-Mairesse (CDM) model, with theoretically sound ‘Big data’ meas...

"The vast network of scholars that the CatChain project brings is truly a great opportunity for anyone who participates in it, as it embraces a new economic thinking through the sharing of different experiences among the partner institutions and with other external parties." Dr. VGR Chandran Govinda...

The exponential growth of data and artificial intelligence is creating a tug-of-war between data for profit and data for the common good. In this struggle, it is fundamental that we protect our basic human data rights. Artificial intelligence will someday know you better than you know yourself. That...

A new decade begins with the promise of a global rebrand, a new website, and a new director for UNU-MERIT. All three are currently being decided, so now is a good time to look back on 2019 – a year that featured two major developments in our outreach activities. First, European membership of The Con...

It is with great sadness that we bring the news that our good friend and colleague Eddy (Adam) Szirmai passed away early last Saturday, 11 January 2020. Eddy was recovering from extensive surgery that he underwent more than a year ago, and although the treatment was generally considered successful, ...

Oil prices shot up following the US assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, rising more than US$5 per barrel to more than US$71 (£54) on January 6, its highest level since the Saudi oil refinery attack last September. Brent crude has since eased to around US$69 at the time of writing, tho...

We are delighted to announce that Dr. Carlos Cadena Gaitán, a graduate of our PhD programme, has been named Transport Secretary for the City of Medellín, Colombia. Dr. Cadena Gaitán is a well-known transport and environmental activist. He is co-founder of La Ciudad Verde (the Green City) initiative,...

On Tuesday 24 December 2019 Maastricht University has fallen victim to a massive ransomware attack. Most IT services are currently offline, but in order to inform staff and students UM publishes the latest updates regarding the attack on its website: www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/update-cyberattack...

Marking International Migrants Day, 18 December 2019, our new Director of Executive Education and Capacity Building in Migration at UNU-MERIT, Nava Hinrichs, joined a conference on “Advancing Human Capital Development through Migration and Innovation” at the Organization for Security and Co-operatio...

Beyond Static Inequality, Thailand “A recent study reveals that in OECD countries, children from poor families would need at least 150 years to reach the average income level, while in some developing countries such as Brazil, Colombia and South Africa, it could take as long as 300 years.̶...

One of the most surprising and disruptive developments of the last few years has been the “fake news” phenomenon. It’s now increasingly clear who benefits in terms of power and influence; what’s less clear is why people continue to believe in it, even when “alternative facts” are categorically and r...

During our Master’s Open Day, we welcome prospective students and give them a general overview of the programme and its seven specialisations. We also invite alumni back to share how the programme prepared them to kick-start their careers in international development. On our Open Day in November 201...

A Sentinel’s Eyes on Earth “It’s inspiring to see the potential of satellite-based Earth observation, and how researchers and policymakers can work together to mitigate the damage caused by these weather events.” Enter keywords...

Technical experts, government employees, academics and others are trained at an early age to shorten terms into acronyms. This makes their writing hard to read and difficult to locate on the Internet, writes Floyd Whaley, Editor of the Asian Development Blog, in his second guest post for the United ...

One standardised assessment tool has become the key benchmark for national governments to judge their schools’ successes. But the academic rankings generated by the Program in International Student Assessment (PISA) are eclipsing important questions such as how particular groups of students are doin...

I previously worked at the UN ECLAC in Santiago de Chile, in a division that has partnered with UNU-MERIT on various projects. For two years I worked under Mario Cimoli, who used to be a colleague of UNU-MERIT Director, Bart Verspagen. It was Mario who first told me about the programme. Then Alejand...

Chances are – if you are reading this brief post – that you have never really had to worry about a full bladder (or worse). Of course, you would have needed to find a toilet at some point, possibly urgently, but there would have been at least one or two options. About 900 million people worldwide ha...

After having experienced great excitement working on my Masters’ thesis, I felt a strong drive to work in research afterward, which made me choose to do a PhD. Becoming somewhat of an expert in a topic is certainly challenging, but at the same time very rewarding way to spend your time. I very much ...