ACUNS is calling for proposals from researchers, students, UN staff, delegates and stakeholders to:
- Present UN-related academic and policy research
- Showcase and strengthen innovative research-policy collaborations
- Demonstrate digital tools and mechanisms that facilitate research uptake
UN staff, delegates and stakeholders will also have the opportunity to:
- Present their research needs and priorities to a UN-focused research community
- Discuss specific challenges when accessing and using research/expertise in their work
Conference theme – Evidence based solutions for intensifying global challenges
As the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, inequalities are rising, geopolitical tensions are simmering, and the climate crisis is escalating. Amid the complexity of these challenges the Meeting will focus on Evidence-based solutions for intensifying global challenges.
This theme responds to UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ call for an end to the “war on science,” whereby “all policy and budget decisions should be backed by science and expertise.” It also facilitates policy-research collaborations for achieving Guterres’ "Our Common Agenda", and the UN 2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Home to many UN organisations and other actors who play a role addressing the fallout of global challenges, Geneva’s hub of policy and technical expertise offers an opportunity for rich research-policy discussions and collaborations. The Graduate Institute is a long-standing institutional member of ACUNS, and as co-host of the Meeting, will strengthen connections between the university’s community, ACUNS members, and Geneva-based practitioners.
Increasing accessibility to research and ensuring diversity
To encourage research-policy discussions, participants are invited to submit their research findings in a policy brief. A selection of policy briefs presented at the Meeting will be peer-reviewed and compiled into an edited digital volume “Evidence-based solutions for intensifying global challenges.”
As part of ACUNS’s commitment to ensure diversity in all its forms, scholars from the Global South can apply for subsidised travel and accommodation to attend the Annual Meeting in person.
Interested participants are invited to apply by 14 February 2022, and can view details regarding support for Global South Scholars.
For questions about the Annual Meeting, email annualmeeting@acuns.org.
Photo credit: UN Photo/Evan Schneider
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About ACUNS
ACUNS was created more than 30 years ago to unite scholars with policy officials active in the work and study of the UN, in order to better understand and address major global problems. The ACUNS Annual Meeting is one of its core activities, built on the premise that solutions to improve the human condition are more likely to advance through evidence-based analyses, international legal agreements and multilateral action. ACUNS’s activities foster research uptake and science-policy collaboration.
ACUNS has a worldwide membership of some 500 individual members, two dozen institutional members, and a 5,000-strong online network, including leading scholars, students, policy researchers and policy officials working on UN-related issues. Each year, ACUNS co-organizes its Annual Meeting in partnership with a local host university.
The Annual Meeting will be co-chaired by Dr. Cecilia Cannon (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies), Mr. Franz Baumann (New York University), and Dr. Marie McAuliffe (International Organization for Migration).