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3 March 2021, Geneva, Switzerland - The year-long global fight to contain and eliminate the threat of SARS-CoV-2 overshadowed international efforts to achieve the SDGs of Agenda2030. The world needs the brightest minds to step into leadership roles at the forefront of the transformational change required to realize the ambitious goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In the field of science, technology and innovation, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Targets 17.6 and 17.8 respectively, aim to “enhance North-South, South-South and trian...
Crowd4SDG is a research project promoting citizen science initiatives with a focus on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Citizen science is a significant resource as it can both produce social innovation to achieve the SDGs and provide non-traditional data to track the progress made towards them. The project is steered by a consortium of partners with UNITAR responsible for enhancing policy relevance and usability of the citizen science data.
For its second GEAR (Gather, Evaluate, Accelerate and Refine) cycle, Crowd4SDG is supporting projects centred on Climat...
Merlyn Hurtado, Finalist of GEAR cycle II Climate Change and Gender Equality (2021) Paris, France We know that, globally, women hold over one-third of seats in local decision-making bodies. However, there is a lack of data on the participation of indigenous women in local decision-making. Merlyn, a research and data analyst at the Learning Planet Institute (University of Paris Cité), knows this issue first-hand. In Colombia, there are around two million indigenous peoples, according to the 2018 Census (IWGIA). However, their inclusion in decision-making processes ...
UNITAR has partnered with the University of Arizona to offer a Professional Certificate in Science Policy and Diplomatic Practice. This online programme provides students the opportunity to gain valuable insights into the world of diplomacy and international affairs, equipping them with the skills needed to help foster global cooperation in addressing pressing scientific challenges and drive sustainable development within the SDG framework. In line with the United Nations Pact for the Future, this programme focuses on how science, technology, innovation and digital cooperat...
In today's post-digital world, emerging technologies are central to multilateralism and shaping the future of global governance. In response to the pressing need for more data-driven solution to contemporary international challenges, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) have collaboratively launched a cutting-edge programme, the Master of Science (Professional) in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Applications (PMDS).Spanning 12 months, this modular postgraduate degree offers a comprehensive explo...
21 February 2025, Geneva, Switzerland – The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), in partnership with the University of Arizona, is pleased to announce the launch of the Professional Certificate in Science Policy and Diplomatic Practice.In the twenty-first century, diplomacy is no longer confined to career diplomats and government officials. Increasingly, non-governmental organizations, private sector companies, academia, and civil society movements are engaged in international policymaking, contributing specialized knowledge and fostering partnership...
27 April 2023, Hangzhou, China - UNITAR’s 2021 and 2023 survey among the National Statistical Offices and Systems (NSOs and NSSs) and international organizations, conducted as part of the EC-Funded Crowd4SDG project, showed that 31% of respondents were aware of citizen science data (CSD) projects run by their NSOs in 2023 compared to only 17% in 2021. The awareness of citizen science (CSD) or citizen-generated data (CGD) is growing, and so are the questions on how such data could be collected and used for the monitoring of progress on sustainable development. To shed s...
On 27th May 2021, United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), which is a partner in the EU-funded Crowd4SDG project, organised a panel discussion “Unleashing the potential of citizen science data for monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)” as part of the Crowd4SDG project. The panel had a two-fold objective – to disseminate emerging good practices among National Statistical Offices (NSOs) and National Statistical Systems (NSSs) on leveraging citizen science for monitoring progress on SDGs and related national and local level objectives, and to ...
6 April 2022 - This virtual side event organized by UNITAR, as part of the Crowd4SDG project, brought together passionate stakeholders involved with Citizen Science Data (CSD). Speakers shared their experience working with citizen scientists, as well as enabling the use of CSD by National Statistical Offices and Systems (NSOs and NSSs).
Ms. Hayoi Chen, Coordinator of the Inter-Secretariat Working Group on Household Surveys at the UN Statistics Division moderated this session and representatives from UNITAR, Office for National Statistics UK (ONS), the Dutch National Insti...
Citizen science data (CSD) presents untapped opportunities to track progress towards the SDGs offering multiple advantages for Governments and National Statistical Offices (NSOs): help fill in data gaps for indicators where traditional data collection instruments, such as, household surveys or administrative registers may not be well suited or may not have the sufficient coverage, improve the granularity of data and sometimes timeliness, and offer an effective and cost-efficient means for NSOs to address data needs of policy-makers in the context of limited or falling resou...