United Nations University appoints six new members to UNU Council

The new Council members, who will serve six-year terms, took office on 3 May and attended the 71st session of the UNU Council that was convened in Rome on 13–14 May.


Devdiscourse News Desk | Updated: 15-05-2019 21:38 IST | Created: 15-05-2019 21:38 IST
United Nations University appoints six new members to UNU Council
UNU Council members are appointed jointly by the UN Secretary-General and UNESCO Director-General.  Image Credit: Wikipedia

The United Nations University (UNU) is pleased to announce the appointment of six new members to the governing United Nations University Council:

Dr Denisa Čiderová (Slovakia), Vice-Rector for Research and Doctoral Studies, the University of Economics in Bratislava

Dr Comfort Ero (United Kingdom), Program Director, Crisis Group

Dr Xin Fang (China), President & Professor, School of Public Policy and Management, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

Professor Adam Habib (South Africa), Vice-Chancellor and Principal, University of Witwatersrand

Professor ‘Funmi Olonisakin (the United Kingdom & Nigeria), Vice-President/Vice-Principal International & Professor of Security, Leadership and Development, King’s College London

Professor Brenda Yeoh (Singapore), Raffles Professor of Social Sciences, National University of Singapore

The new Council members, who will serve six-year terms, took office on 3 May and attended the 71st session of the UNU Council that was convened in Rome on 13–14 May.

UNU Council members are appointed jointly by the UN Secretary-General and UNESCO Director-General. They serve in an individual capacity ― not as representatives of their country’s government and are selected with an eye to achieving a geographic and gender balance, with due regard to each member’s field(s) of expertise.

The new Council members join six members whose six-year terms will end in 2022:

Professor Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz (Brazil), Scientific Director, São Paulo Research Foundation & Professor, Gleb Wataghin Physics Institute, State University of Campinas

Ms Isabel Guerrero Pulgar (Chile), Director, IMAGO Global Grassroots, & lecturer at Harvard and MIT

Dr Angela Kane (Germany), UNU Council Chair; Senior Fellow, Vienna Centre for Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, & Professor, Sciences Po, Paris

Dr Segenet Kelemu (Ethiopia), Director General and CEO, International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology

Dr Radha Kumar (India), Policy Analyst

Professor Tsuneo Nishida (Japan), Director, Institute for Peace Science, Hiroshima University For profiles of all current UNU Council members, see unu.edu/about/unu-council.

The UNU Council comprises 12 appointed members, the UNU Rector, and three ex officio members (the United Nations Secretary-General, the Director–General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and the Executive Director of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research). Its main functions are, inter alia, to formulate the principles and policies of UNU, govern the University’s operations, and consider and approve the UNU biennial work programme and budget.

(With Inputs from APO)

Give Feedback