Strengthening the UN’s Research Uptake

Ambassador Fasel,
Rector Malone,
Professor Burrin
Ladies and gentlemen:

Thank you for inviting me to this important and very timely event. I congratulate the organizers, the United Nations University and the Graduate Institute, for this initiative. This meeting is a unique platform for discussion on how research entities, within and outside the United Nations can cooperate more effectively to inform policy makers in the areas of peace and security, development, human rights and humanitarian action. Aiming to foster improved interaction between UN policy units and relevant research and policy development actors, this event could not have been organized at a better moment, when we are discussing the very important cultural shift necessary for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and other policy frameworks adopted last year.

Research, knowledge and evidence must more than ever be the crucial points of departure for all policy-making. Research is critical to address today’s increasingly complex, interconnected and transnational world which is changing at an unprecedented speed.

Current challenges can no longer be compartmentalized. Power structures at all governance levels are shifting. Our agreed norms and principles are under enormous pressure. The role of the State as we know it, is being recalibrated. Expectations of and possibilities for individuals are being transformed due to technological advances – to name just some of the reasons why research matters more than ever.

With the current speed and extent of change it is simply an illusion to think that we can continue with business as usual – and by ‘we’ I do not just mean the UN System. Addressing today’s challenges with yesterday’s tools is no longer an option. We need to develop new policies, new answers and more importantly a new business culture to tackle the new realities. Academia and research must play a crucial role in helping us - and our partners - to adapt for this new reality. Research very much matters for UN policy-making. Let me highlight this in more detail with some examples:

1. Member States and communities around the world look to the UN for credible and neutral advice. Many Member States lack resources and expertise. They trust the UN as an independent source of information. The UN’s technical advice, training, guidelines, standards and decisions are expected to be the state of the art in any given sphere of activity. This puts high expectations on us to keep up with current levels of insight and to provide well-founded policy-advice. Evidence-based research links us to the real world outside our offices and conference rooms. Research enables us to focus on the real problems and their solutions, and thus to be placed on the international agenda at the required moment.

2. The UN is responsible for a considerable sum of development funds. In 2014, total funding for UN system-wide activities reached US$ 46.2 billion. Almost two-thirds of this amount were spent on operational activities. These funds are invested in some hugely important and very complex challenges in peace and security, governance, climate change, economic and social development, etc.. When based on solid research and evaluation, funds can be invested where they yield the highest impact for their beneficiaries. A tweak in programme design that has been informed by evidence can save millions of dollars that can be spent on other challenges. Research is therefore also a critical tool for the UN System’s effectiveness. It helps us to monitor and evaluate the consequences of our actions.

3. The context in which we are working is changing at an unprecedented speed in terms of technology, demography, shifting economic and political tectonic plates, disease pandemics and drug resistances and many others. The connections between them are often poorly understood. This is what Agenda 2030 is encouraging us all to do - to think much more about the connections between issues and partners. Research can help identify the multipliers that will reinforce cooperation and investments. For example, investing in gender equality cuts across health, education, environmental stewardship and practically all the other areas mentioned in the SDGs.

4. Research is the engine of innovation. While policy makers are often reactive, scientists can alert us about issues ahead of time and identify emerging challenges. It is central to help shaping the future.

5. The current narrative on migrants is negative, xenophobic and not based on evidence. We have to use the research undertaken in this area which shows the positive impact of migration on host countries and countries of origin, including on their economies. This is of paramount importance to policy makers who should base their decisions on evidence. If we do not manage to change this narrative we will face greater problems than ever.

We know that the world of policy-making can, at times, seem rather resistant to more profound and long-term analysis. But there are many examples of how research has helped the wider UN family, our Member States and partners to adjust policies and look at the long term in a proactive way. Let me give you some examples of how evidence based research has influenced our work in some areas:

1. Research on demographic projections predicting serious challenges for States and society resulting from the growing proportion of older citizens led to the first World Assembly on Ageing in 1982. This sparked a global process of redesigning societies to better accommodate the needs of a growing older population.

2. Research on the impact of climate change, especially through the assessments and synthesis report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has been instrumental in mobilizing policy makers and the public around the issue. Scientific evidence informed the negotiations at COP21 in Paris putting powerful pressure on the parties at the negotiating table to commit to keeping global warming to less than 2 °C.

3. Global mapping and satellite imaging provides crucial data on which we base our early warning systems of natural disasters. We can anticipate flooding and cyclones in a way that allows us to evacuate potentially affected populations. New technologies using drones help us to study areas affected by humanitarian crisis and provide targeted support even in inaccessible areas. Better research has helped the UN and Member States to be much more effective in disaster risk reduction and humanitarian assistance.

4. As a cross-cutting initiative, the United Nations Secretary-General has launched a flagship initiative on big data. As people use mobile devices to communicate, buy and sell goods, transfer money, search for information on the Internet, and share their lives publicly on social networks, etc., they leave digital trails. When aggregated, such data reveal insights into changes in human behaviour and well-being, provide insights into sustainable development issues and give real-time feedback on how well policy responses are working. Such insights can guide the public sector to respond more effectively to emerging crises and vulnerabilities. The project also contributes to the development of regulatory frameworks and technical standards to address data sharing and privacy protection challenges.

Dear colleagues, research and knowledge produced for its own sake are not useful enough for the UN. They have to address real concerns and challenges. As the programme of the coming two days will illustrate, it is of crucial importance to strengthen cooperation within the UN and with partners outside of the UN family. The ecosystem, in which researchers from different disciplines and fields, from the private and public sectors can come together, identify synergies and make their contribution to find solutions to today’s and tomorrow’s challenges, must be strengthened and nurtured.

Geneva offers this unique platform. It hosts a great diversity of UN agencies, is home to a rich research community with world class academic institutions, a vibrant private sector and civil society working on topics that cover the full UN agenda. In Geneva connections are made across thematic boundaries and across stakeholder communities to find innovative and lasting solutions to the challenges of today and tomorrow. Geneva is the international operational and knowledge hub crucial for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the other policy frameworks that together form our collective roadmap.

Being here gives you a great opportunity to connect and cooperate with these many Geneva actors. You can count on the help of the United Nations Office at Geneva to support you in this endeavour. One example of how we try to assist you is the following: A mountain of data and information is collected and generated by the UN family and our many partners in Geneva. But how to find the relevant information and how to access it? We are in the process of finalizing the GVADATA gateway – a portal that provides an overview of existing data collected by different entities in Geneva. It will help direct researchers, as well as journalists, delegates, colleagues and other interested parties to our collective knowledge and is a first step to better coordination. It contains data sets from more than 40 organizations, continues to grow and is organized by the 17 SDG goals. It will be ready soon and at your disposal and we will make sure you get the necessary information.

Ladies and gentlemen, research within and for the UN is a natural area where silos can be torn down and a collaboration of a completely new kind can and should be started. During this Conference you will have ample opportunity to discuss some of the most crucial questions at hand: How do we make sure that research provides the information that policy-makers need? How do we make sure that our policy-makers tell researchers what the important topics are? How do we make sure that policy-makers are aware of the available research results and how can you assist them in drawing the right conclusions? How do we use research to point the way to inform strategies and how do we tap research as a source of innovation to identify new issues or opportunities? Where do we find the resources to invest in research, even if we are not sure that it will actually yield the immediate desired results? How can we use the United Nations as a hub for scientific diplomacy?

You have given yourselves an ambitious agenda for the coming two days. You have some excellent panels lined up so I am sure the discussions will be fruitful and inspiring for all of us.

I also hope that this is not going to be a one-off event. It is an excellent initiative that should be repeated, maybe not every year, but every second year. Last year we held a Think Tank Summit. I would encourage you to link into this initiative.

I wish you all the best in your deliberations.
Thank you very much.