UNU-CPR Celebrates Ten Years

Over the past decade, UNU-CPR has carried out policy-focused research on issues of strategic interest and importance to the UN and its Member States and is now a hub for policy innovation - prioritizing urgent policy needs that require innovative, practical solutions for immediate implementation and sustainability over the long term.      

Founded in Tokyo in 2014, the Centre subsequently moved to its current headquarters in New York in 2018 to be close to the UN Secretariat, UN Permanent Missions, and other UN agencies and entities. In 2022, UNU-CPR also established an office in Geneva, with the generous support of the Government of Switzerland, to help expand the Centre’s support across the UN system, collaborate with the full range of policy actors in International Geneva, and help bridge the policy ecosystems in Geneva and New York. 

Today, a decade after its founding, UNU-CPR is an agile, demand-driven research institute with an international team of experts and research partners spread across the world, both within and outside of the UN. 

Our experts regularly brief Member States and UN organs, including the Security Council; their perspectives are published in prestigious outlets such as the Washington Post and the New York Times; and we regularly disseminate reports, policy briefs, and discussion papers on a range of subjects.  

The Centre has forged strategic partnerships with a range of relevant actors, including the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, the Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO), and the United Nations Environment Programme.

In 2023, UNU-CPR supported the Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism (HLAB). Acting as Secretariat for HLAB, the Centre was instrumental in the planning, development, and promotion of the HLAB advisory report which provided innovative and practical recommendations to strengthen the multilateral system.

Stefan Lofven, former Prime Minister of Sweden, and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former President of Liberia, Co-Chairs of the HLAB, commended UNU-CPR on the support it provided to the advisory board: "As Secretariat for the HLAB, UNU-CPR was instrumental in HLAB's success: organizing a global public consultation that captured diverse perspectives on the future of global governance; condensing these wide-ranging inputs into a concise and accessible report; and promoting the report's recommendations to a global audience. They exceeded our expectations and continue to shape critical discussions ahead of the Summit of the Future."     

Other notable achievements include several thematic reviews for the PBSO on key aspects of its work - helping to identify lessons learned and develop recommendations to enhance PBSO programming; leading global efforts to mobilize the financial sector to address modern slavery and human trafficking; and advancing ideas to strengthen the global governance of data and artificial intelligence. 

UNU-CPR enters its second decade with a solid foundation to build upon, enhancing its offer to the UN system during a time of increasing pressures on the multilateral system as the organization is forced to navigate growing and increasingly complex challenges. Last year, UNU-CPR launched a research programme on Anticipatory Action, which is helping to position the Centre as a leading authority on data governance, AI innovation, and futures thinking. 

While the future is uncertain, and the challenges we face collectively are in many cases unprecedented, UNU-CPR will strive to be at the forefront of relevant policy discussions for another decade and beyond. Events held this year to celebrate our first ten years will also be used to advance new ideas that the UN system, Member States, and others can adopt to navigate the challenges ahead.