Fresh Expertise and Leadership in the UNRISD Board

UNRISD is delighted to welcome three new members, including a new chairperson, to its Board, the body which oversees the Institute’s work.

Azita Berar Awad was appointed by the UN Secretary-General to serve as Chairperson of the UNRISD Board from 1 July 2021 through 30 June 2025. Her career with the International Labour Organization (ILO) culminated in her position as Director of the ILO Employment Policy Department. She brings to the Board a combination of relevant substantive knowledge, senior UN experience and the capacity to bridge between the policy and research environments, through her engagement with a number of academic and think tank initiatives, including the Global Network of Policy Research on Youth Transitions, which she co-created in 2020 with 27 universities and policy partners; and the Global Labour Organization (GLO), a network of academics and policy think-tanks on labour market issues of which she is the Policy Director. She is also currently Senior Fellow at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, where she is building a programme on Globalization and Social Policy.

She is joined by Olivier De Schutter, who is Professor of Law at the Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain, Belgium) and at the Institut d'études politiques de Paris (SciencesPo, France). He has also been UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights for the Human Rights Council since March 2020. His CV boasts many senior policy advisory positions which draw on his expertise as a renowned academic, making him an ideal member of the UNRISD Board.

We are also pleased to welcome Graziella Moraes Silva, who is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology, and Faculty Associate at the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy, at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. Her research focuses on inequalities, a key topic for UNRISD currently, and the geographical range of her work spans South America, Africa and Europe, making her a good match for a global institute.

Places were made for the three newcomers by the departure of Joakim Palme, who served as Board Chair (2017-2021) and previously as a Board Member (2013-2017), Saraswathi Menon (2015-2021) and Sylvie Durrer (2017-2021). We would like to thank them for their commitment to UNRISD and all the contributions they made to the Institute during their time on the Board and wish them well for the future.