United Nations University - CRIS

09/10/2026

🎓🏛️ United Nations University - CRIS was proud to co-host the Workshop on Economic Policy for Development and Resilience in collaboration with Universitas Mercatorum on 1–2 October 2026 in Rome.

Bringing together researchers and policy specialists, the workshop provided an interdisciplinary forum to dissect pressing economic, technological, and institutional transformations. Beyond keynotes and scholarly debates, the event featured dedicated student presentations that highlighted innovative approaches to global development challenges.

A truly memorable moment of the workshop was celebrating the graduation of the 2025–26 cohort of the Online Master in Economic Policy and Governance for Development and Resilience, marking a pivotal academic milestone for the graduates. We warmly thank Universitas Mercatorum and all contributors for two inspiring days of knowledge exchange, international cooperation, and academic celebration.

08/10/2026

🌍🌱 United Nations University - CRIS was delighted to partner with the UN Global Compact Network Poland and the SGH Warsaw School of Economics for the intensive 4-day certificate programme "Sustainable Development in Practice: ESG Reporting in the New Regulatory Landscape", conducted throughout September 2026.

As regulatory frameworks evolve rapidly, aligning corporate practices with sustainable development goals requires strong inter-institutional collaboration. Representing UNU-CRIS, Director Philippe De Lombaerde delivered a keynote lecture titled "Regional Economic Integration and Responsible Business", exploring how regional economic dynamics and governance structures influence sustainable business practices and reporting standards across markets.

We extend our gratitude to our organising partners and participants for fostering such an impactful space for academic and policy exchange.

🔗 Explore full programme details here: https://szkolenia.ungc.org.pl/product/szkolenie-z-raportowania-esg/

07/10/2026

🌳🌊 How can the eight Amazonian nations build a unified, proactive defense against cascading climate risks across their shared transboundary ecosystem?

In our latest UNU-CRIS Research Report, Maria Jazmin Chavez Alvarez, Nidhi Nagabhatla, Daniela Chamorro, Andrea Ribeiro Hoffmann, Sil Katrien M., and Philippe De Lombaerde provide a multi-country assessment of disaster risk management (DRM) systems across the Amazon Basin.

Through the conceptual lens of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the authors examine how national strategies and regional bodies—including ACTO, CAN, MERCOSUR, and OAS—address interconnected flood, drought, and fire hazards. While disaster risk governance has gradually strengthened across the region, institutional capacity remains highly uneven, and existing risk knowledge platforms remain nationally fragmented rather than interoperable.

Furthermore, disaster financing continues to heavily favor post-disaster recovery over preventive resilience. Following the international momentum of COP30 in Belém, the authors emphasize that bridging these gaps requires establishing coordinated transboundary data sharing, integrating Indigenous knowledge systems into governance architectures, and shifting toward proactive climate-disaster financing.

🔗 Download and read the full report here: https://unu.edu/publication/assessment-regional-variations-disaster-risk-management-strategies-across-amazon-river

06/10/2026

🚨 Good news for researchers! The submission deadline for the Economic Fitness & Complexity Symposium has been extended.

Co-organised by United Nations University - CRIS, United Nations University-MERIT, the Enrico Fermi Research Centre, the National Research Council of Italy – Institute for Complex Systems, and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, the symposium will bring together researchers working at the intersection of economic complexity, innovation, artificial intelligence, structural change and development.

The symposium will provide a space to present ongoing research, exchange ideas across disciplines, and build connections between researchers, policymakers and practitioners. Postgraduate students and early-career researchers are particularly encouraged to submit an extended abstract of 1,000–1,500 words.

Topics include economic fitness and complexity, productive capabilities and diversification, structural transformation and industrial policy, innovation systems, AI and digital transformation, labour markets and skills, regional development, sustainability transitions, network science, and data-driven policymaking.

📄 Extended submission deadline: 11 October 2026
📅 30 November – 2 December 2026
📍 UNU-MERIT, Maastricht, the Netherlands

🔗 Find out more and submit:

The Economic Fitness and Complexity Symposium invites research on innovation, structural change and development.

05/10/2026

🇨🇦 Canada is not in Europe. So why is it increasingly being framed as "European"?

🇪🇺 From being described as "perhaps the most European country outside Europe" to the proposal for Canada to become the EU’s 'first associate member', the language surrounding Ottawa–Brussels relations has moved beyond strategic partnership towards something more consequential: the construction of political belonging. But identities are not simply recognised; they are constructed.

In this new United Nations University - CRIS Connecting Ideas blog, Görkem Yavuz takes a constructivist look at the rapidly deepening EU–Canada relationship and asks what happens when cooperation is increasingly narrated through sameness, shared identity and "European" belonging.

Does this strengthen cooperation —or does it narrow the meaning of multilateralism by making like-mindedness a condition for political proximity?

And ultimately, can multilateralism remain genuinely inclusive if cooperation is increasingly organised around those who are seen as belonging to the same political community?

🔗 Read the full blog here: https://unu.edu/cris/blog-post/sacrificing-multilateralism-cooperation-reading-ottawa-brussels-convergence-through

24/09/2026

The Knowledge Exchange and Capacity-Building Programme came to a close with a visit to the United Nations Campus in Bonn and United Nations University - Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS)!

The afternoon programme brought together researchers and experts from across UNU-EHS, offering our Bhutanese delegation an opportunity to engage with a broad range of research perspectives relevant to Bhutan’s environmental, urban and development priorities.

The sessions covered:
• Mountain regions and disaster risk reduction, presented by Stefan Schneiderbauer (Head of the Global Mountain Safeguard Research (GLOMOS) Division), Davide Cotti and Dipesh Chapagain
• Resilient urbanisation with Lucas Turmena from the Urban Futures and Sustainability Transformation (FAST) Division;
• Wellbeing and equity with Yauheniya Shershunovich from the Wellbeing and Equity (WE) Division, including reflections on UNU-EHS’s recent workshop in Bhutan.

The programme also explored Nature-Based Solutions and ecosystem services with Jana Balzer from the Environmental Vulnerability & Ecosystem Services (EVES) Division, as well as climate finance and insurance with Alvaro Rojas Ferreira from the Munich Climate Insurance Initiative (MCII).

Bringing together these different perspectives provided a fitting conclusion to a week centred on knowledge exchange, institutional learning and approaches to building more resilient and sustainable communities.

As we conclude the programme, we would like to extend our sincere thanks to UNU-CRIS Director Philippe De Lombaerde, as well as Senior Research Fellow Nidhi Nagabhatla and Project Associate Görkem Yavuz, who led the organisation and coordination of the programme. We are equally grateful to Pascale Vantorre and Ajsela Masovic for their continued support behind the scenes throughout the programme.

A special thank you goes to Victoria Bartetzko from UNU-EHS for welcoming our delegation in Bonn and for her valuable support in coordinating and organising the Bonn programme.

Finally, our thanks go to all the institutions, organisations, experts and teams who partnered with us across Bruges, Ostend, Lille, Brussels and Bonn and contributed their time, knowledge and expertise to making this programme possible.

Two weeks of exchange, learning and collaboration comes to an end—but we hope the conversations and connections established along the way will continue well beyond the programme. 🇧🇹🤝🇺🇳

24/09/2026

🏥🤝 How can South Asian health systems transform patients from passive recipients into active partners in healthcare governance and patient safety?

In our latest United Nations University - CRIS Policy Brief, Wafi Ara Faruqui, Nidhi Nagabhatla, Taufique Joarder, Sharif Mohammed Sadat, and Md Aminul Hasan examine the structural factors driving high rates of preventable clinical harm across South Asia.

While Strategic Objective 4 of the WHO Global Patient Safety Action Plan (GPSAP 2021–2030) calls for direct patient empowerment, existing regional frameworks continue to treat patients merely as passive beneficiaries.

The authors demonstrate how grassroots patient rights groups remain donor-dependent and isolated from formal national health architectures, while rapidly expanding cross-border medical travel lacks standardized safety, liability, and continuity-of-care protocols.

To resolve these governance gaps, the Brief proposes launching the South Asian Patient Safety and Advocacy Network (SAPSAN)—a unified framework designed to formalize patient representation and embed community voices into regional bodies like SAARC and BIMSTEC.

🔗 Download the full paper here: https://unu.edu/publication/strengthening-patient-advocacy-south-asia-aligning-regional-action-who-global-patient

23/09/2026

The Knowledge Exchange and Capacity-Building Programme continued with a visit to Vrije Universiteit Brussel, where the Bhutanese delegation took part in an afternoon of discussions on water resilience, climate adaptation and Nature-Based Solutions.

The programme began with a presentation by Estifanos Addisu Yimer (PhD), a water resources engineer and researcher specialising in Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) and geohydrologic resilience. Drawing on his work on surface and groundwater modelling, climate impacts and the design and long-term monitoring of NBS; Estifanos introduced the delegation to approaches for strengthening water resilience through nature-based interventions.

The programme continued with Quentin Lejeune, who presented his work on flood risks and climate resilience, followed by an informal exchange with the delegation on emerging approaches to water-related risks and resilient urban development.

We would also like to thank Afnan Agramont and Amal Sarsour, representing the United Nations University - CRIS Nature, Climate and Health Cluster, for joining the programme and contributing to the discussions.

Our special thanks go to Ann van Griensven and the entire VUB team, both those who joined us today and those who supported the programme behind the scenes, for helping organise the visit and welcoming our Bhutanese colleagues.

23/09/2026

🛡️🌐 Can the Gulf states maintain economic independence while building a unified defense and resilience mechanism against shared regional risks?

In our latest United Nations University - CRIS Policy Brief, Mohammed Alotaibi proposes a pragmatic new framework for GCC regionalism—one built on the concept of "differentiated sovereignty".

Instead of evaluating the GCC through the lens of supranational integration or loose intergovernmental cooperation, the Brief assesses regionalism by its functional capabilities to sense emerging risks, retain institutional learning, and coordinate rapid action.

While the author demonstrates how member states can retain distinct national economic and development strategies, he explains the strategic necessity of operationally pooling capabilities in critical domains such as cyber security, maritime protection, logistics, and energy continuity.

By establishing interoperable systems where fragmentation is strategically costly, this "Separate Markets, Shared Shield" model offers a flexible operating system for regional resilience without surrendering national authority.

🔗 Read and download the full version here: https://unu.edu/publication/separate-markets-shared-shield-designing-new-operating-system-gcc-regionalism

Security

22/09/2026

The Knowledge Exchange and Capacity-Building Programme continued into its fourth day with a visit to Université catholique de Lille, where our Bhutanese delegation was welcomed for a full day of exchange and learning.

The programme began with welcoming remarks by Jean-Charles Cailliez, PhD (Directeur de LiDD Ecole de Design and Vice President for AI and Education at the University) who shared insights into how design-oriented disciplines are adapting to the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence. Discussions explored how AI can be integrated into design education and practice, as well as its potential applications in fields such as urban and environmental planning, architecture and engineering.

The programme then turned to Nature-Based Solutions and sustainability, with a seminar delivered by Stéphane Lauridant, Yohann Rogez and Anne-Sophie Loison from the university’s Direction Responsabilité Sociétale et Environnementale. The session introduced the NBS approaches being developed across the university, highlighted projects already implemented on campus, and explored the institution’s plans for future sustainable development and environmental planning.

Following a short field visit across the campus, Raphaële SOLEIL GONDRY (Relations avec l’Enseignement Catholique) and Étienne de Boisredon (Directeur Immobilier et Moyens Généraux) shared the university’s concluding presentations, bringing together the different themes explored throughout the day.

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Ioannis Panoussis (Vice Rector & Vice President for International Relations) and Dr. Fatma Güneri, LIDD École de Design as well as the entire Université Catholique de Lille team for their collaboration with United Nations University - CRIS, their support in preparing the programme, and their warm welcome to our Bhutanese delegation.