We celebrated the establishment of Europe's first United Nations University Hub and the world's first climate-focused UNU Hub at Hamburg University of Technology on May 27th, 2024. This major strategic development will bring tangible benefits to Hamburg, Germany, and the world, especially the Global South! We would like to express our gratitude to the United Nations University for their invaluable partnership and the remarkable vision. Special thanks go to Prof. Tshilidzi Marwala, the Rector of UNU and the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Dr. Sabine Becker-Thierry, the Secretary of the UNU Council. Their support has been vital in realizing this initiative and it was an honor to host them in Hamburg. We are also deeply grateful to Prof. Kaveh Madani, the Director of The United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), for being a key driver in conceptualizing and bringing the idea of "UNU Hub on Engineering to Face Climate Change" to fruition. Also, we would like to extend our sincere thanks to the ministry of Science & Research for their support. It was inspiring to have Ms. Katharina Fegebank, the Minister for Science, Research, Equalities and Districts and the second mayor of Hamburg present in our launch event.
UNU Hub serves as the Gateway to the United Nations on the premises of an academic institution. A UNU Hub brings the UN experience to the university setting with the objectives of bridging the gap between academia and the UN agencies, making the UN system accessible to university students and researchers and promoting state-of-the-art and policy-relevant university research. It also provides a range of training and capacity building activities that prepare students for working in UN agencies, international development and research entities. The Vice President for Research at TUHH Prof. Irina Smirnova and Prof. Nima Shokri will serve as the Executive Co-Director of this Hub. More information about the hub can be found at www.tuhh.de/unuhub
