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In memoriam – Professor Giovanni Andrea Cornia

With a heavy heart, we mourn the loss of Giovanni Andrea Cornia, Director of UNU-WIDER from 1995 to 1999, who passed away on 10 July 2024. His tenure, though brief, was marked by innovation and helped steer the Institute through the challenges of the early 1990s. His leadership did not focus on balancing the three missions of research, capacity building, and policy bridging separately but instead integrated these aspects, aiming to make a positive impact on the lives of the world’s poorest people. The innovations during his time included the now well established PhD internships and visiting scholars programmes, as well as the prestigious WIDER Annual Lecture series.

His research interests in various forms of inequality became integral to the Institute’s DNA. Under his guidance, UNU-WIDER launched groundbreaking work on the economic transitions in Eastern Europe following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. 

After his directorship of UNU-WIDER, Cornia was appointed Professor at the University of Florence, where he worked until his retirement. He also served as Director of IRPET, the economic research center of Tuscany, between 2006 and 2009. Before these roles, he was Director of the Economic and Social Policy Research Programme of ICDC (the research center of UNICEF based in Florence). Always committed to our mission, he continued collaborating with UNU-WIDER for well over a decade until his health limited his travel. His enduring commitment to equality and development, and his profound impact on our research community, will be deeply missed.