UNU Experts

Expert International Affairs and Policy Associate

Tariro Mbiba

Tariro is a dedicated International Affairs and Policy Associate specialising in environmental law, justice, and the interconnected sustainable development challenges within water, environment, and health. With a strong background in policymaking and governance, she brings extensive experience from her roles with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and UNU-INWEH.

Expert Research Fellow, Artificial Intelligence and Applied Statistics

Dr. Rendani Mbuvha

Dr. Rendani Mbuvha is an actuary and machine learning expert, specializing in the application of machine learning to improve our understanding of climate-related risks.

Expert Policy Research Lead

David McCoy

David McCoy is a public health specialist and professor of global public health who works in the fields of health systems policy and development; global health governance and international health policy; and the political and economic determinants of health. Much of his recent research has consisted of multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral case studies.

Expert Chief Operations Officer

Christina McElwaine

Christina McElwaine is Chief Operations Officer at the United Nations University Centre for Policy Research.

Expert Researcher

Dr. Ortrun Merkle

Dr. Ortrun Merkle is a researcher at UNU-Merit and Maastricht University. Her research focuses on the nexus of corruption and gender and corruption and migration.

Expert Lead, Ecological Modeling and Food Security

Dr. Mohsen Mesgaran

As an agroecologist and modeler, Dr. Mohsen Mesgaran works at the interface of agriculture, ecology, and technology, employing quantitative approaches that utilize a variety of modeling techniques, including statistical/mathematical models, physiological (crop growth) models, and machine learning (AI).

Expert Professorial Fellow

Trisha Meyer

Trisha Meyer is a Professorial Fellow at UNU-CRIS since January 2019, where she is involved in the GREMLIN project on Global and Regional Multistakeholder Institutions.

Expert Principal Research Specialist

Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen

Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen has been with the United Nations University (UNU-EGOV) since 2016.

Expert Lead, Hydroclimatic Diagnostics

Prof. Simon Michael Papalexiou

Professor Simon Michael Papalexiou’s research is at the forefront of hydroclimatic variability and extremes, bridging advanced space–time stochastic modeling, downscaling, and climate change diagnostics.

Expert Project Manager

Alexandra Mieth

Alexandra Mieth is a Project Manager at UNU-EHS.

Expert PhD Fellow

Justine Miller

Justine Miller is a PhD Fellow at UNU-CRIS and Ghent University. She is working towards understanding the concept of the "Spaghetti bowl" of regional integration under the supervision of Samuel Standaert.

Expert Post-Doctoral Fellow

Penelope Milsom

Penelope is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at UNU-IIGH

Expert JSPS-UNU Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Giselle Lugo Miole

Giselle Miole is a JSPS Postdoctoral Research Fellow jointly affiliated with UNU-IAS and the University of Tokyo.

Expert Policy Research Associate

Sapna Mishra

Sapna Mishra is a Policy Research Associate at UNU-IIGH.

Expert Doctoral Researcher

Ally Mkumbukiy

Ally Mkumbukiy is a Doctoral Researcher in the Joint PhD. Programme in Integrated Management of Water, Soil, and Waste between Technische Universität Dresden and UNU-FLORES.

Expert Emeritus Professor

Prof. Dr. Pierre Mohnen

Pierre Mohnen is a Professor at UNU-MERIT, Emeritus Professor at Maastricht University, Associated Fellow at CIRANO, Senior Research Associate at the Technology and Management Centre for Development at Oxford University, and Associated Research Professor at ETH Zürich.

Expert Project Coordinator