UCL professor appointed to United Nations role

Mariana Mazzucato, Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value and Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, has been appointed to the second United Nations High-level Advisory Board (HLAB) on Economic and Social Affairs. 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.