Dr. David Passarelli is Director of UN University’s Center for Policy Research (UNU-CPR) which is co-located in New York and Geneva. He has overall responsibility for the direction and administration of the Centre’s research and policy advisory activities. He is a member of UN University’s Senior Management Group, and serves as UN University’s representative to the UN High-Level Committee on Programmes (HLCP). 

 Between 2022-2023, Dr Passarelli led the Secretariat of the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism (HLAB). His research has been commissioned by UNICEF, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the UN Development Coordination Office (DCO), and the UK Ministry of Defence’s Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre (DCDC). Grants from the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and several philanthropic foundations have supported his work.

 Dr Passarelli focuses predominantly on issues of global governance, migration, strategic foresight, international development, and global finance. He holds a Doctorate in International Development from the University of Oxford. His recent publications include:

 • 2023. Report of the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism (New York: United Nations University). 

 • 2022. Stress-testing the UN’s regional prevention approaches (New York: United Nations University). 

 • 2021. Beyond Opportunism: The UN Development System’s Response to the Triple Planetary Crisis (New York: United Nations University). 

 • 2021. Governing Uncertainty (New York: United Nations University).