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UNU-WIDER Moves Up to Sixth Place in the Global Development Think Tank Rankings
The United Nations University (UNU), the parent organisation of UNU-WIDER, ranks 6th among the world’s ‘Best Government - Affiliated Think Tanks’.
The Global Go-To Think Tank Report is annually produced by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program of the International Relations Program, University of Pennsylvania. The 2011 report—launched on 18 January 2012 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York—comprises the results of the 2011 rankings as well as a summary of the major trends and issues with respect to think tanks worldwide.
UNU-WIDER’s and UNU’s number 6 rankings are one-slot advances from the rankings of the 2010 Global Go-To Think Tanks Report, when both ranked 7th in their respective categories.
The news was welcomed by UNU and UNU-WIDER alike. ‘We are very pleased that the work of the United Nations University has again been evaluated so positively’, commented Professor Konrad Osterwalder, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Rector of UNU. ‘Although such listings must be taken with a grain of salt, I believe our sixth-place rank confirms the success of UNU’s continuing efforts as an academic and research organization within the United Nations, and our role as a bridge between the United Nations system and the international academic and policy-making communities.’
Professor Finn Tarp, Director of UNU-WIDER commented: ‘We highly appreciate the continued recognition of our work. UNU-WIDER strives to be a high-quality, policy-oriented research and capacity-building institution, dedicated to achieving the central goals of the United Nations system, including poverty reduction and sustainable and equitable development.’
UNU-WIDER is based in Helsinki, Finland. The institute is devoted to development economics, multidisciplinary research and policy analysis on development issues, as well as to building analytical capacity of developing country researchers.
Research at UNU-WIDER is undertaken through collaboration with institutions and individuals from the global South and North to achieve a truly global perspective on development. The current work programme focuses on issues around crisis of finance, food and climate change and their impact on economies and societies, as well as other major issues of vital importance to the development community.
