Academic Networking

Strategic directions

The effectiveness of networking approaches has been greatly enhanced by recent advances in information and communications technologies (ICTs). The UNU will continue to strengthen its network outreach during the 2002-03 biennium by enhancing the implementation of IT advances. During 2001, the IT staffing and resources for the UNU Centre and the UNU/IAS were merged into a single unit, the Tokyo Campus Computing Centre (UNU/C3). Under UNU/C3, IT capabilities and services will be focused initially on UN House Tokyo, including other United Nations organizations located in the building, and incrementally throughout the UNU system.

Academic networking activities during the 2002-03 biennium include a number of ongoing programme networks including the Virtual University Initiative, started in 1996, which seeks to deliver substantive distance learning materials "on-line" to the postgraduate and professional communities. The main beneficiaries are likely to be professionals and postgraduates interested in UN and UNU related topics, national government officials from developing countries, local government officials, NGOs and the wider educational sector. The UNU Centre and UNU/IAS will continue to work with UNEP GRID-Arendal during the 2002-03 in the further elaboration of activities within the Virtual University/On-line Education initiative. UNU/INWEH is working with UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to develop an Internet-based "Virtual Learning Centre for Water" which will provide distance learning opportunities and information on best water management practices for developing countries.

Another ongoing programme network is the UNU Food and Nutrition Programme for Human and Social Development. The Programme is the extension of the original World Hunger Programme established by UNU as one of its three programme networks in 1975. It has been particularly successful in linking up scientists and food and nutrition institutions in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Other networking activities include the UNU/UNESCO Chairs Initiative and Follow-up of the World Conference on Higher Education, in particular, the Global University Network on Renovation (GUNI), as well as the continued support to the publication of a number of academic journals including the Food and Nutrition Bulletin, Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, Global Environmental Change - Human and Policy Dimensions, Global Governance and Mountain Research and Development.

In August 1998, with the establishment of the Virtual University Media and Technology Laboratory (VULAB) at its Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU/IAS) in Tokyo, the UNU shifted its approach from an emphasis on conceptual research to launch a new phase involving the development of key online teaching technologies and course modules using in-house research findings. Through this process, the UNU is gradually becoming a showcase for information technology supported online teaching and learning as already shown, among others, during UNESCO's World Conference on Higher Education (Paris, 1998).

Moreover, with support from numerous collaborative partners in Japan (including the University of Tokyo) and overseas, the UNU Virtual University/On-line Education project has developed several innovative software prototypes (including a customizable whiteboard platform, co-ordinated chat system, Web co-navigation framework, and an Internet studio for synchronizing audio/video with presentation slides). Through a global partnership approach, the UNU is now focusing its efforts on the development of fourth generation Virtual University technologies as well as the implementation of online courseware and ensuring their extensive evaluation from both didactical and pedagogical perspectives. The UNU considers that a number of services can be provided to support the development of e-learning by increasing accessibility for Japan-based courseware to the global educational market as summarized below:

Online Portal (Global Knowledge Hall)
Creation of a Japan E-Learning Portal on the web linking a consortium of technologists and curriculum designers. Users of the Portal would gain access to existing software resources, advice on how to establish a Virtual University and access to existing courseware/educational materials for a range of institutions. In order to achieve this objective it will be essential to establish in a central location the necessary distance-learning infrastructure (e.g. servers and fast internet connectivity) as well as making available the technical means and human resources to facilitate the preparation of online educational materials.

E-Learning Laboratories
The UNU has already made considerable investments in this area through the establishment of the Virtual University Media and Technology Laboratory (http://vulab.ias.unu.edu). In addition to developing a range of online learning tools, the laboratory offers a range of 4th generation Virtual University services including web development, web hosting, web streaming of conferences and the development of multimedia education materials (such as the UNEP Global Environmental Outlook 2000). This could be supported by the development of a curriculum laboratory at the UNU exploring the didactics of online learning and the opportunities associated with online curriculum design.

Courseware Development and Administration
The UNU has the capacity to develop online courseware in a range of subject areas related to environmental sustainability, development and peace and governance, on topics of specific expertise of the UNU system. It adopts an integrated approach to courseware development combining commercial and research tools including available courseware packages. This comprehensive package offers the benefits of state of the art course administration systems/student performance management and considerable opportunities for customization as well as experimentation with different online learning modes. Commercial integrated packages (e.g., WebCT and Blackboard) provide a very comprehensive set of tools which support learning, content authoring/management, and administration. However, the built-in learning tools are general and not designed with any particular pedagogical model in mind. Research at UNU/IAS has resulted in a number of new learning technologies, where some of them are absent in the mainstream web learning environments and others are more versatile and functional than their existing counterparts. These include synchronous and asynchronous tools that facilitate active learning: multimedia presentation, quiz authoring, survey authoring, fine-grained web shared annotation, coordinated chat, learning-community building and synchronized browsing. Many of these technologies have been introduced in major refereed conferences dealing with e-Learning.

Partnership Network
The UNU plays a significant role in co-ordinating and supervising the international network of recognized scientific institutions that can contribute educational materials on a range of subjects. In addition, it has the capacity to recruit an international body of students from the developing and developing world to utilizing the online course materials. There are numerous advantages of this kind of internationally implemented e-learning programme. The trend in the development initiatives around the globe is moving towards the creation of learning consortiums.

Using existing networks it is possible to develop and implement courseware in a cost effective manner. In order to produce high quality materials, however, it is essential that quality control and evaluation systems are built-in to the course development process.

Global Virtual University (GVU)
The UNU in collaboration UNEP, Agder University College (AUC) and UNEP/GRID-Arendal in Norway, has embarked on a joint initiative to develop a Global Virtual University (GVU) as an on-line e-learning programme with an international outreach. The core topic of the programme concerns the relationship between environment and development. The programme will comprise both individual courses and more comprehensive study programmes. The project will be implemented in three phases over an initial four-year period. The first phase has been completed and involved the development by UNU/IAS of a limited prototype based on UNEP's Global Environment Outlook 2000 report (GEO-2000). Phase two involves the development of a full GEO course based on the complete version of GEO-2000 by Spring 2002. Phase three involves the development of a M.Sc. degree programme in Global Environmental and Development Studies (GEDS). GEDS is designed as an interdisciplinary study that has three scientific disciplines as its basis: engineering sciences, natural sciences, and social sciences. For the purpose of implementing GVU an operating unit of the UNU will be established at UNEP/GRID-Arendal as an extension of the UNU/IAS. The organizational arrangements for this branch will be set out in a Memorandum of Understanding and an Institutional Contractual Agreement between UNU/IAS, AUC and UNEP/GRID-Arendal, furthering the goals of the original much broader agreement between the UNU and UNEP.

Proposed Food and Nutrition Programme (FNP) Activities fall into three broad areas: Capacity Development, Global Research, and Academic Support for the UN System.

Capacity Development

Implementation of African Regional Plans of Action
The UNU Food and Nutrition Programme and the International Union of Nutrition Sciences co-chair the United Nations ACC Sub-committee on Nutrition's (ACC/SCN) Capacity Development Working Group. In this capacity, the Programme sponsored a series of workshops in Africa designed to develop 10-year plans of action for Capacity Development in Southern, Eastern, and West and Central Africa. These plans were presented at the 2001 session of the SCN in Nairobi. All are designed to accelerate the improvement of their populations' health and nutrition. Activities in 2002-03 will be aimed at supporting the creation of the Southern African Working Group's proposed "Learning Co-operative" as well as assisting the Eastern African Region in implementing the first phase of its action plan. For West and Central Africa, the Programme will seek to assist in establishing the necessary management structure for advanced- and medium-level training in nutrition and applied research. Short courses will continue to be organized as part of the action plans.

The Programme will also initiate a series of workshops during next biennium similar to those held in Africa in 2000-01, but focused in the area of "Value-added Processing." Efforts are underway to establish cooperation with the International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST) for this activity.

Other Regional Capacity Development Initiatives
The Programme will also pursue capacity development activities in Latin America and will initiate planning activities for capacity-development programmes involving North Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent Republics of the former Soviet Union.

As the Capacity Development Initiative gains momentum in Africa and Latin America and expands to other areas (e.g. the Middle East and the newly independent republics of the former Soviet Union), it will become increasingly necessary to enlist the assistance of training institutions. The Programme will seek to expand its outreach in an effort to obtain the commitment from training institutions in the North and South to one or two fee and tuition scholarships for trainees supported under one of the UNU Capacity Development Initiatives.

During 2002-03, the Programme will continue to organize courses on "production and use of food composition data in nutrition." By the end of 2001, the course has been organized eight times: five times in Wageningen (the Netherlands) and three times in South Africa. A modified edition is available for Latin America.

Global Research

The Programme will also continue to cooperate in a number of specific research projects including:

Multicentre Growth Reference Study (in collaboration with WHO) - Data Analysis and Production of Growth Reference
A series of workshops will be held to review various approaches for data analyses and growth curve construction. UNU will continue to play a central supporting role in this activity in the next critical phase.

Training Activities to Support Appropriate Use of New International Reference
The new International Growth Reference for Infants and Young Children is based on a fundamentally different approach than that used in the past for the construction of anthropometric references. The UNU's contribution will be to support the development of training modules and procedures for their effective use.

Workshops for Protocol Design for Developing Prescriptive Growth References for Pre Adolescent School Age Children
The increasing prevalence of childhood obesity worldwide underscores the need for appropriate anthropometric references. Current approaches for the development of references are based on representative sampling of disease free individuals and the diagnosis of overweight is statistically determined. The Programme will cooperate in organizing workshops to develop a more functional approach for the development of school age, preadolescent anthropometric references.

Global Cereal Fortification Initiative (GCFI)
Following highly successful field projects in Pakistan and China in 1998 and 1999 and a longer one in China in 2000 - 2001 that is now being written up, funding has been secured for a replication of the initial studies in Aleppo, Syria in 2002.

Academic Support for the UN System

Among the specific projects that will be implemented in cooperation with a number of other United Nations organizations are the following:

Harmonization of Approaches for the Development of Dietary Standards
Globalization of trade and the growing recognition of the role of food and nutrition in safeguarding the health of populations underscore the need for harmonization of approaches for developing dietary standards. This effort has begun with preliminary funding to the International Nutrition Foundation from the US Government. The Programme will continue to work with European counterparts who are interacting with the EU and individual countries to gain support for this activity.

Support of Zinc Working Group Activities
The Food and Nutrition Programme, in collaboration with the International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS), is sponsoring an international zinc working group that is similar to those that exist for iron and vitamin A. The magnitude and appropriate public health response to zinc deficiency is unclear. The group is reviewing current knowledge and developing recommendations for research and interventions. It currently is supported by UNICEF, WHO, and the zinc trade association.

FAO/WHO/UNU Protein and Energy Reviews
Global protein and energy requirements are reviewed in approximate ten-year intervals by UNU, FAO, and WHO. UNU will cooperate in the next round of reviews. Such requirement estimates are used worldwide to assess for programme planning and evaluation purposes.

Review of Possible Role for UNU as a non-normative, non-regulatory agency for the development of scientific reviews for Food and Nutrition
Growing international issues related to the safety and wholesomeness of foods crossing national borders have pointed out difficulties with the present system that does not clearly distinguish between scientific and political information used for normative setting and regulatory controls. The non-normative, non-regulatory nature of the UNU and its guarantee of academic freedom suggest that it may be the best UN entity for developing scientific reviews for which it is important to guarantee objectivity and a "politically free" process.

Development of UNU Chairs Programme
Participation of the Food and Nutrition Programme in the UNU's plans for establishing new UNU Chairs is key because of the role this activity will play in widening networks beyond core institutions. An important component of present plans is to invite the institutional homes of individuals awarded (competitive) time limited UNU chairs to join the UNU network. The Programme's Core Network will prepare a formal proposal for the implementation of this concept and begin efforts to raise the necessary funds.

INFOODS
INFOODS continues to be a joint UNU/FAO project coordinated by FAO. The regional networks LATINFOODS (Latin America), ASEANFOODS (Southeast Asia), SARCFOODS (Southeast Asia), and MASIAFOODS (North Asia) have all been active although AFROFOODS has been slowed by the premature death of its coordinator. Modest UNU support plays a critical role in helping regional associations to be active and also in keeping UNU's identity as a partner with FAO. UNU is specifically identified with support of regional networking and has provided funds to support it in the past.

Collaboration with IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency)
Contribution to regional activities of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) network for application of isotopic methods to the evaluation and redesign of FNP. The UNU's Regional Coordinator for Latin America is presently coordinating a regional network for applied research in this activity that includes Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba and Mexico. The possibility of IAEA supported advanced training activities in areas of common interest with the UNU/FNP is under consideration.

Iron Deficiency Anemia Programme Advisory Service (IDPAS)
The Iron Deficiency Anemia Programme Advisory Service is a UNU/INF project financed by an initial grant from the Micronutrient Initiative. It provides technical information related to a wide range of issues and subjects in order to bolster advocacy, assist in planning iron nutrition projects, and support current organized interventions.

CARK/KIN
UNU/Iron Deficiency Anemia Programme Advisory Service (IDPAS) has accepted responsibility for the policy and communications aspects of the $34 million Asian Development Project for universal micronutrient fortification of salt and wheat flour in all countries of the region. Programme coordinators will play a major role in exploring and obtaining the support of legislators, government officials, and other agencies for this project that is designed to eliminate iodine and iron deficiencies in the Central Asia region.

ACC/SCN Working Group on Micronutrients
From the ACC SCN meetings in March 2000 in Washington, D.C. and in Nairobi in April 2001, UNU/IDPAS served as the Secretariat for the iron activities of the SCN Working Group on Micronutrients. A comprehensive report was prepared for presentation at the meeting, and UNU/IDPAS has been asked to continue functioning as the iron secretariat for the Micronutrient Working Group and report to the next meeting on SCN in 2002. This activity has been incorporated into the IDPAS initiative.

• UNESCO/UNU Chair in Plant Biotechnology at the University of Beijing, China;
• UNU/UNESCO Chair on Global Economics and Sustainable Development at UNU/WIDER in Helsinki;
• UNU/UNESCO Chair on the Concept and Practice of Zero Emissions in Africa, at the University of Namibia in Windhoek;
• UNU/UNESCO Chair in Leadership Studies at UNU/LA in Amman, Jordan;
• UNESCO/UNU Chair on Water Resources, Sustainable Development and Peace, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Talent-scouting for young scholars from developing countries Since 1998, the UNU Centre has included as a part of its networking activities an initiative to begin identifying promising young scholars from developing countries who could become a part of the University's ongoing academic and networking activities. Reaching out to young scholars is a goal included in Chapter 6 of the UNU's Strategic Plan 2000. The initiative supports the participation of young scholars at annual or biennial meetings of such professional associations as the International Peace Research Association, the Academic Council for the United Nations (ACUNS) and the Third World Academy of Sciences, to international meetings as well as the major conferences of international organizations in scientific fields relevant to UNU programmes.

In implementing this initiative, the University contacts the secretariats of the associations and provides modest travel grants for young scholars who have been accepted to present papers at the association meetings. In an effort to organize this activity in an efficient manner, the University asks the professional association to handle the organization of such a travel award scheme and to nominate a panel of names from which the UNU could select the most promising young academics. The University will during the 2002-03 biennium continue to explore ways to involve such young talented people in its future activities.

Gender
In the UNU Strategic Plan 2000, Gender has been identified as one of the themes which should cut across much of the work of the University. This reflects the recognition that gender is not a topic to be addressed only in isolation - as with research or capacity-development activities specifically targeting women, for example, - but rather that a gender perspective is a necessary component of each and every programme and project undertaken by the University in line with the gender mainstreaming strategy of the United Nations system.

In its 2002-03 programme of work, the UNU is seeking to ensure that its commitment to "Mainstreaming Gender" is carried forward into concrete action. When taking a closer look at past and ongoing activities of the University, it becomes clear that while gender-related activities have represented a regular component of research and capacity development agendas throughout the UNU system over the last twenty years, a systematic approach going beyond isolated gender projects and comprising gender-sensitive programming, monitoring and evaluation has not taken hold yet. In October 2000, UNU Centre conducted a workshop on Future Issues in Gender Education and Research to solicit expert advice in identifying areas in which its specific characteristic as an academic institution within the UN System could best be employed to promote the implementation of the Platform for Action. In the discussions, it emerged that UNU should concentrate its efforts in two main areas:

A. To mainstream gender throughout its research and capacity development activities

The central activity of UNU's gender mainstreaming efforts in the 2002-03 biennium will be the preparation of an Action Plan for Gender. The Action Plan shall serve as a basic reference within the UNU System by clarifying the specific goals of mainstreaming gender in the UNU context, by outlining rules and recommendations for gender-sensitive project design, execution, monitoring and evaluation, and by identifying priority issue areas in most urgent need of addressing in research and capacity-development activities. B. To provide a forum for Global dialogue among gender experts with the aim to produce directly policy-relevant recommendation in a number of Critical Areas of Concern<p> The UNU Global Dialogue on Gender Issues will serve to facilitate closer linkages between researchers and policy makers from the north and the south - and indeed the world over - and will concentrate on producing concrete policy recommendations in various policy areas, namely in 2002-03: Gender and Poverty Alleviation, Women and Violence, and Gender and Health. The Dialogue will explore each issue from a comparative and from a multi-disciplinary perspective, bringing together experts from a variety of academic and professional background, from industrialized and developing countries alike, for two-day workshops aimed at developing concrete policy recommendations.

Food and Nutrition Bulletin and the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis The highly esteemed quarterly Food and Nutrition Bulletin, now in its twenty-second year, is often the only scientific publication in their field to reach developing country nutrition and health workers. The Journal of Food Composition and Analysis is published quarterly by Academic Press as an official publication of UNU/INFOODS. The UNU will continue its support for the Food and Nutrition Bulletin in 2002 during which arrangements will be made to have the Journal published and supported through non-UNU funding. The specific budgetary allocation for the Food and Nutrition Bulletin and the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis is included under the Food and Nutrition Programme above.

Global Environment Change - Human and Policy Dimensions The journal Global Environment Change - Human and Policy Dimensions is an international journal that addresses the human ecological and public policy dimensions of environmental processes that threaten the sustainability of life on Earth. The journal emphasizes the human contributions to worldwide environmental changes and explores the diversity of human responses to impacts of global change. The journal will enter its 12th volume in the year 2002 under the auspices of UNU.

Global Governance Joint publication with the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) of the journal Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations. The journal will be published four issues each in the years 2002 and 2003. Funding for this journal is included under the Peace and Governance Programme of the UNU Centre.

Mountain Research and Development In 1981, the UNU established the quarterly journal Mountain Research and Development, currently published by the University of California Press, Berkeley. This journal became the primary vehicle for the publication of the proceedings of the seminars and conferences, and many of the research papers. It has recently been decided in the international mountain community (including the UN system and bilateral donors) that the journal is the main communication and dissemination channel leading up to the International Year of the Mountains in 2002.

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