News

United Nations Academic Impact and the Hasso Plattner Institute decided to take a closer look at the issues surrounding the collection and use of data and the role of data scientists in helping us navigate these challenges with Prof. Felix Naumann, chair for information systems at the Hasso Plattner Institute at the University of Potsdam in Germany.

From 8 to 9 April 2019 youth leaders from around the world will come to New York to take part in the UN Economic and Social Council’s (ECOSOC) 8th Youth Forum entitled, “Youth: Empowered, Included and Equal”.

Ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being at all ages is essential to sustainable development. Significant strides have been made in increasing life expectancy and reducing some of the common killers associated with child and maternal mortality, but working towards achieving the target of fewer than 70 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030 would require improvements in skilled delivery care.

The International Day of Sport for Development and Peace celebrates sport as a unique power to attract, mobilize and inspire. UNAI reached out to soccer legend Emilio Butragueño, who explains how the Real Madrid Foundation’s work helps to promote, both in Spain as well as abroad, the values inherent in sport to contribute to a better world. One of the organizations helped by the Foundation is Paris-based NGO “Pour un Sourire d´Enfant” (PSE).

In this week’s article, a member of the 2018 Class of Millennium Fellows, Abigail Canales Ibarra, describes her goals and experiences as President of Jälpem. The Jóvenes Altruistas Pensando en México (Jälpem) Project helps those in need by providing healthcare services to people who do not have access to medical care. Her work furthers Sustainable Development Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.

Young people around the world are contributing to their communities, proposing innovative solutions, driving social progress and taking action to make a difference. They are also agents of change, mobilizing to advance the Sustainable Development Goals to improve the lives of people and the health of the planet, and are a driving force in development, peace and security.

A recent high-level event on women in power examined the obstacles that hinder women’s participation and leadership, particularly in positions of power in politics, business and community advocacy.

To commemorate the International Day of Happiness, UNAI spoke to visitors to UNHQ in New York from all over the world to find out what makes them happy. Check out this video and let us know what happiness means to you in the comments!

Making planet Earth more sustainable is possible, as an interactive community event at Southern Illinois University Carbondale demonstrated.

Taylor Reid, Assistant Professor of Applied Food Studies at the Culinary Institute of America, wrote about the latest report titled "The State of the World´s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture" by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

In this week’s article, UNAI is highlighting the work of the 2018 Class of Millennium Fellows Davy Ayuune Atanga, Elona Boateng, Susan Dacosta, and Ayebilla Avoka for their work in the Mentors Network initiative in Ghana.

According to the 2018 Western Public Health Casebook published by the Western University (Canada), public health is both a science and a passion for helping. The cases reaffirm that the ability to work within diverse and interconnected contexts is an essential skill for contemporary workers.

While global poverty rates have been cut by more than half since 2000, one in ten people in developing regions are still living with their families on less than the international poverty line of US$1.90 a day, and there are millions more who make little more than this daily amount. Significant progress has been made in many countries within Eastern and Southeastern Asia, but up to 42 per cent of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa continues to live below the poverty line.

In this week’s article, a member of the 2018 Class of Millennium Fellows, Nathan Tom, describes his experiences as the Co-Founder of the Culinary Collective Project at Arizona State University.

The content, gathered from across the UN System, includes the UN Secretary-General's message for the Day, an interview with former UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador Annie Lennox, and information on the International Labour Organization's new report, "A Quantum Leap for Gender Equality".

The Faculty of Journalism of the Kazakh National University held the 6th International Winter School for young journalists from Central Asian countries. More than 170 media scholars and journalists shared with students the professional techniques of the media profession, the new trends in Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) and insights into the future of the media market.

The American College of Greece (ACG), working together with the U.S. Embassy in Athens, the American College of Thessaloniki/ACT and the American Farm School, launched the program “Education Unites: From Camp to Campus” providing higher education scholarships to 87 refugees. Scholarship recipients included 24 women and 63 men, ages 18 to 40, from 14 countries to help pay for their studies at ACG for the 2017 to 2018 academic year.

Join United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) and the Hasso Plattner Institute for a discussion on the immense opportunities and challenges presented by our increasingly data-driven society, the value that can be gained from data that is well-prepared and the dangers of data when misapplied. We have access to, and use, more data than ever, but what are the opportunities and challenges presented by such a data-driven society?

Prof. Felix Naumann, chair for information systems at the Hasso Plattner Institute at the University of Potsdam in Germany, will deliver a talk on these issues followed by Q&A with the audience on Monday, 25 March in the ECOSOC Chamber, UN Headquarters from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm.

Forests cover one third of the Earth's land mass, performing vital functions around the world. Around 1.6 billion people - including more than 2,000 indigenous cultures - depend on forests for their livelihoods, medicines, fuel, food and shelter.

Forests are the most biologically-diverse ecosystems on land, home to more than 80 per cent of the terrestrial species of animals, plants and insects.

On the occasion of the International Year of Indigenous Languages and the International Mother Language Day, the Dag Hammarskjöld Library of the United Nations hosted a panel discussion to spotlight the importance of preserving indigenous languages and integrating them into the education system.