2018 Recap and Season's Greetings

Wishing you happy holidays and a new year filled with prosperity and success!

Dr. Jingbo Huang (Assistant Director of UNU Institute in Macau)

On behalf of UNU Institute in Macau team, I would like to take this opportunity to thank our partners and other stakeholders for their contribution and support for our institute. In the third year since the establishment of UNU Institute in Macau and the adoption of UN Sustainable Development Goals, 2018 has brought the institute to a new milestone.

• Our work in promoting gender digital equalities through EQUALS project was featured heavily on UNU Sustainable Development Explorer and its preliminary findings were launched at EQUALS Partners Meeting in New York on 22 September 2018.

• Our technological solution that is used to help identify victims of human trafficking, Apprise, was piloted in Thailand.  You can learn more by watching two videos introducing the tool and the partnerships. The team also conducted skills training for survivors of sexual exploitation in the Philippines.

• Our researchers in the Small Data Lab published a report on "Engaging Citizens for Sustainable Development: A Data Perspective", which was launched during the UN World Data Forum in October 2018.

• Our research project, which examines how information and communication technologies (ICTs) can be harnessed to boost psychological and social (psychosocial) wellbeing of marginalised segments of society, such as rural women in Myanmar, was concluded with a release of the report.

• UNU Institute in Macau and City University of Macau signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for engagement on research projects and short-term exchange activities that advance Data Science research. The City University of Macau has generously provided a temporary office for UNU Institute in Macau, as Casa Silva Mendes is undergoing renovation work.

We will not rest on what has been accomplished this year since much has yet to be done to maximise and utilise the power of ICTs to achieve sustainable development. In line with the UN Secretary General's Strategy on New Technologies, we will work closely with new and current partners to overcome challenges and reconcile interests, especially in the areas of privacy and human rights, ethics, equality and equity, sovereignty and responsibility, and transparency and accountability. We will continue to move forward with you as our partners in this journey.

We wish you peace, health, prosperity, and success in 2019.

Dr. Jingbo Huang

Assistant Director

United Nations University Institute in Macau