The United Nations University (UNU) — the academic arm of the United Nations system — implements research and educational programmes in the area of sustainable development, with the particular aim of assisting developing countries.

Established by the UN General Assembly in 1973 as “an international community of scholars, engaged in research, postgraduate training and dissemination of knowledge in furtherance of the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations”, UNU operates through a worldwide nexus of institutes and programmes that are coordinated by UNU Centre in Tokyo.

UNU aspires to be a world-class international research, teaching and capacity building institution that provides global leadership on aspects of peace, development and sustainability. UNU serves as a think tank for the United Nations system and provides a bridge between the UN and the international academic and policy-making communities.

With a systems-oriented approach that is necessary for achieving sustainable solutions to the world’s challenges, the University’s activities are clustered into five interlinking thematic areas:

• Peace, Security and Human Rights
• Human and Socio-economic Development and Good Governance
• Global Health, Population and Sustainable Livelihoods
• Global Change and Sustainable Development
• Science, Technology, Innovation and Society

Further, in its role as a capacity builder for developing countries and countries in transition, and to intensify North–South research and teaching interaction, the University has launched an initiative to convert the UNU system into a “twin institutes” structure, wherein each UNU institute will have two (or, in rare cases, more) locations: one in a developed country and one in a developing country.

UNU acts as a conduit for the diversity of the world’s knowledge relating to sustainable development, providing a platform for dialogue and new and creative ideas that are based on rigorous research methodology.