Seventy-eight years after the foundation of the United Nations as the cornerstone of multilateralism, its principles and values remain valid. In the current global context, with the emergence of crises and conflicts and several global challenges, the United Nations is a center to harmonize actions and a beacon of hope for billions. For decades, institutions of higher education, particularly its faculty, have been studying this Organization extensively while teaching, researching, and writing about it. Lecturers, professors, and scientists have made significant contributions to the work of the United Nations. Moreover, the interest in the United Nations, and the expectations about the Organization, have grown significantly. And in parallel to it, youth, particularly university students, have been increasingly seen as more actively advocating for the different campaigns, causes, and initiatives the United Nations carries out.
This online event is aimed at highlighting the teaching and research innovations, methodologies, modalities, and projects related particularly to the United Nations and its work, carried out in academia, while underlining the critical relevance of higher education to actively promoting and working in favor of, the goals enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.
Welcome remarks:
Robert Skinner, Deputy Director and Chief of Partnerships and Global Engagement at the Outreach Division of the United Nations Department for Global Communications.
Moderator:
Omar Hernández, Program Manager and Public Information Officer of the United Nations Academic Impact.
Panelists:
Ardi Imseis, Professor of International Law at Queen’s University in Canada. Former member of the United Nations Group of Eminent Experts on the situation of human rights in Yemen. Former Legal Counsel and Senior Policy Advisor at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. Author of the book The United Nations and the Question of Palestine (Cambridge University Press, 2023).
Katie Laatikainen, Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Adelphi University in the United States. Former member of the Advisory Board of the United Nations University Institute of Comparative Regional Integration Studies, and of the Executive Committee of the International Organization section of the International Studies Association. Co-Editor of the book Group Politics in UN Multilateralism (Brill, 2020).
Jean Krasno, Lecturer in Political Science at Columbia University, and Director of the Multilateralism and International Organization Initiative at the Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies at the City University of New York in the United States. Former Executive Director of the Academic Council on the United Nations System. Former Program Officer at Parliamentarians for Global Action. Author of the book The United Nations: Policy and Practice (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2023).
Patrícia Nogueira Rinaldi, Professor of International Relations, Director of the Center of Studies and Research in International Relations, and Academic Coordinator of the Model United Nations program at FACAMP – Faculdades de Campinas in Brazil. Former Visiting Scholar at the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies of the City University of New York in the United States. Co-Author of the book Signature Pedagogies in International Relations (E-International Relations, 2021).
Vasilka Sancin, Professor of International Law, Head of Department of International Law and Director of the Institute for International Law and International Relations at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia. Member of the United Nations Human Rights Council Advisory Committee and former Vice-Chair of the United Nations Human Rights Committee. Ad hoc Judge at the European Court of Human Rights and President of the Slovene Branch of the International Law Association.