This is an invitation-only informal dialogue convened by UNRISD.
What role should and can the United Nations play in research and knowledge creation, the sharing of ideas and shaping of agendas, and ultimately the setting of norms that guide policy and practice in a diverse, rapidly changing and increasingly uncertain world?
This event responds to concerns currently voiced in various places across the United Nations system that the space for critical research is shrinking, and that the capacity of the United Nations to play a leading role in shaping “the future we want” and articulating strong alternative policy options for the international community has weakened.
To discuss these concerns, UNRISD is convening a small meeting with invited participants.
Discussants
José Antonio Ocampo
Former Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Professor of Professional Practice in International and Public Affairs at Columbia University
Sakiko Fukuda-Parr
Professor of International Affairs at the New School, former Director of Human Development Report Office UNDP, founder of Journal of Human Development and Capabilities
Richard Jolly
Honorary Professor and former Director of the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, co-director of the UN Intellectual History Project, former Assistant Secretary General of the UN, former Special Adviser to the Administrator of UNDP, former Deputy Executive Director in UNICEF, architect of the Human Development Report
Ronald Wiman
Development Manager (Global Social Policy), National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Finland
Isabel Ortiz
Former Associate Director, Policy Advocacy and Knowledge Management, UNICEF
Eva Jespersen
Deputy Director and Head of NHDR Unit, National Human Development Reports Unit, UNDP
Harris Gleckman
Senior Fellow at the Center for Governance and Sustainability at UMass Boston, former chief of the New York office of UNCTAD
James A. Paul
Senior Advisor and founding Executive Director of the Global Policy Forum
Werner Puschra
Executive Director of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung New York Office