UCL professor appointed to United Nations role

Professor Mazzucato is among 20 eminent global experts appointed to the Board, including Columbia University Professors Jeffrey Sachs and Joseph Stiglitz. The board will work closely with the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) over the next two years to provide guidance and recommendations on global and local sustainable development.

Advice from HLAB will help to inform the UN Secretary-General’s response to current and future global socioeconomic challenges post-COVID-19, and to advance the Decade of Action for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Professor Mazzucato said: “We face unprecedented challenges in the wake of the pandemic, and it will take global collaboration on a far reaching scale to start to tackle these issues.

“I’m looking forward to working with the UN DESA and colleagues from around the world to coordinate recommendations to further advance and implement the sustainable development agenda as we continue to work towards achieving the UN’s SDGs by 2030.”

The first UN HLAB was established in 2018, and was a key part of work to support UN Member States in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The interventions and insights of the HLAB built up UN DESA’s understanding of some of the biggest global economic and social issues, and inspired the UN to break new ground in policy research.

Assistant Secretary-General of UN DESA, Elliott Harris, said: “We are delighted to welcome Professor Mazzucato as a member of the second-term of the UN High-level Advisory Board. We count on the group’s expertise and insights, enabling the United Nations to respond to current and future challenges in the post-pandemic era and to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”

The announcement of Professor Mazzucato’s appointment to the UN coincides with the publication of her new book, launched last week, entitled Mission Economy – A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism. The book calls for new levels of boldness and experimentation to be applied to the biggest social and political issues of our time - namely inequality, disease and climate change. This is the third book written by Professor Mazzucato, and follows the success of her previous award-winning publications, The Value of Everything and The Entrepreneurial State.

Links

• Professor Mariana Mazzucato’s academic profile
• UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose
• The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment
• United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs
• Mission Economy – A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism

Image

• Credit: Pixabay

Media contact

Kate Corry

Tel: +44 (0)20 3108 6995

Email: k.corry [at] ucl.ac.uk