Connecting Generations and Geographies: Policy School Co-Hosts ACUNS Annual Meeting in Nairobi

In June 2025, the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University co-hosted the Annual Meeting of the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) with the University of Nairobi, bringing together the global scholarly community both virtually and in-person at the only United Nations headquarters in the Global South in Nairobi, Kenya. Held under the theme Environmental Multilateralism and Human Development, the meeting convened hundreds of scholars, practitioners, and students committed to strengthening global governance and reimagining multilateral cooperation for a rapidly changing world.

Policy School Director Maria Ivanova, who co-chaired the conference, reflected on her own trajectory, from being a student participant in the 2002 ACUNS workshop at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg to becoming a scholar of UNEP and an institutional leader. Now, two decades later, she led this milestone gathering.

The Northeastern delegation in Nairobi included faculty Carmen Hull (Assistant Professor of Information Design and Data Visualization) and Richard Wamai (Professor of Cultures, Societies and Global Studies), and administrators Venantius Wesonga and Salmaan Faraaz from Enrollment Management.

PhD student Olga Skaredina played a central leadership role, co-organizing the inaugural virtual ACUNS Youth Track alongside Professor Roni Kay O’Dell of Seton Hill University. This first-of-its-kind program created space for young scholars and practitioners from across regions and academic disciplines to share their research and field experiences, demonstrating a growing interest in youth-driven scholarship and intergenerational learning on multilateralism. In the virtual program, Olga organized two roundtables on intergenerational equity and youth leadership, while PhD student Carmella Uwineza and master’s student Jonathan Oubenslimane presented their research, demonstrating the university’s commitment to cultivating the next generation of global public servants and policy leaders.

Key Highlights

Key highlights from the conference included:

• John W. Holmes Memorial Lecture: David Passarelli, Executive Director of the United Nations University Centre for Policy Research, delivered this year’s Holmes lecture and Zeinab Bangura, Director-General of the UN Office at Nairobi and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, welcomed ACUNS to the UN in Kenya. Passarelli urged the audience to reflect on the quiet but powerful forms of cooperation that continue to define multilateralism, even amid global uncertainty. He noted that “it would be hasty to turn our backs on 80 years of international cooperation.” The lecture will be published in a forthcoming issue of Global Governance.
• Kofi Annan Lecture on Intergenerational Leadership: Moderated by Maria Ivanova, this signature dialogue featured Donald Kaniaru, a Kenyan pioneer of international environmental law; Alphonce Muia, a young Kenyan environmental leader; and Ivanova as the “middle generation,” shaped by ACUNS and committed to multilateralism. Their exchange on legacy, transformation, and institutional evolution will be published in Global Governance.

• High-Level Plenary on the Transformational Vision of COP30: Moderated by Joe Ageyo, Editor-in-Chief at Nation Media Group, the session featured an interactive dialogue between Túlio Andrade, COP30 Chief Strategy and Alignment Officer, and Professor Roni Kay O’Dell of Seton Hill University. They highlighted the importance of grounding climate negotiations in the lived experiences of people, with local action serving as a catalyst for global climate solutions, and the need for embracing diverse narratives, historical contexts, and a broader range of stakeholders to ensure a more inclusive climate agenda.
• High-Level Plenary on Strengthening the Implementation of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs): Moderated by Anna Dubrova from the University of Massachusetts Boston, the panel brought together Dr. Rolph Payet, Executive Secretary of the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions, Patrick Umuhoza, International Environmental Agreements Officer at Rwanda Environment Management Authority, and Dr. Natalia Escobar-Pemberthy, Clean Energy and Environment Legacy Transition Initiative Program Manager at Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability. The discussion explored how data and research can support greater coherence, responsiveness, and collaboration in the implementation of MEAs, highlighting the Environmental Conventions Index (ECI), currently affiliated with the Policy School, as a practical analytical tool that enhances evidence-based policymaking.

Core Messages from the Meeting

Three powerful themes emerged:

• Ideas guide action: Scholarship shapes the future of multilateralism.

• Generations build on each other: Knowledge flows forward when we create space for dialogue across generations.

• Vision must be anchored in substance: Environmental multilateralism requires both imagination and implementation, especially from the communities at the forefront of environmental change.

Strategic Partnership and Institutional Support

The Policy School’s role as co-host was partially supported by Srinivas Tadigadapa, Senior Vice Provost for Institutes, Centers, and Impact Engines, and Dean Kellee Tsai of the College of Social Sciences and Humanities, who affirmed Northeastern’s commitment to global engagement and inclusive impact.

The ACUNS 2025 Annual Meeting underscored the importance of academic diplomacy and intergenerational leadership. It also reaffirmed the Policy School’s mission: to connect ideas with action, scholarship with service, and students with opportunities to shape a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world.

SEE PHOTOS FROM THE MEETING