A New Partnership between the Policy School and the United Nations University Centre for Policy Research
left to right: Policy School Director Maria Ivanova, Northeastern Pres. Joseph E. Aoun, UNU Rector and UN Under-Secretary-General Tshilidzi, UNU-CPR Director and Director of the Global Governance Innovation Platform David Passarelli
On March 31, 2025, a new partnership between Northeastern’s School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and the United Nations University Centre for Policy Research (UNU-CPR) was formalized with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The partnership will harness advanced data visualization and other areas of expertise to promote global governance solutions and address growing pressures on the multilateral system.
Collaboration will focus on a new multi-year initiative managed by UNU-CPR – the Global Governance Innovation Platform – which will identify, explore and visualize innovative governance practices, serving as templates for new multilateral institutions and platforms or inspiring reforms to existing ones.
Speaking at the signing of the MoU, UNU Rector and UN Under-Secretary-General Tshilidzi Marwala celebrated the new partnership: “Today’s ceremony marks the start of an exciting new collaboration with Northeastern University that will deliver practical, relevant and innovative policy solutions for a stronger, more resilient multilateral system extending UNU-CPR’s support for the commitments made at the 2024 Summit of the Future. By working together and jointly applying our expertise we will help the United Nations, Member States and others navigate today’s increasingly complex and interdependent challenges.”
“This partnership affirms the Policy School’s role as a global contributor to reimagining multilateral governance,” said Policy School Director Maria Ivanova. “In collaboration with UNU-CPR, we will bring engaged scholarship into direct dialogue with international policymaking. Our students are integral to this work, advancing the future of global cooperation through the principles we champion: communication, collaboration and community.”
Prior to signing the MoU, Rector Marwala delivered a lecture on “The Role of Knowledge in Shaping the Future of AI Governance.” He also conducted an informal Q&A discussion with Policy School students and was a guest speaker in Prof. Ivanova’s International Environmental Policy class. “Anything you do with climate change,” he told students as part of his remarks to the class, “starts with you.”
The Policy School’s Advisory Council helped pave the way for the MoU between the Policy School UNU-CPR. Their support of last year’s Director’s Fund campaign enabled the School to fund two outstanding Northeastern graduate students, Manushi Sharma and Nidhi Polekar, in transformative co-op placements at UNU-CPR in New York. In Fall 2025, the School will fund two more UNU-CPR co-ops, giving students new opportunties to apply their learning and contribute to solving global challenges.