Secretary-General Re-appoints David M. Malone of Canada as United Nations University Rector
Following consultations with the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, and with her concurrence, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres re-appointed David M. Malone of Canada as Rector of the United Nations University (UNU).
Dr. Malone is completing a first five-year mandate as Rector, having ably served in that role since March 2013. He is the sixth Rector of the United Nations University and a distinguished academic and practitioner in the fields of international development and international security. The decision to re-appoint Mr. Malone was taken after an extensive international search process led by the Chair of the University’s Governing Council, Radha Kumar, with the participation of representatives of both the Secretary-General and the UNESCO Director-General.
Since 2013, Mr. Malone has spearheaded reform efforts within UNU, emphasizing the importance of policy-relevant research, which resulted in closer collaboration with policymaking communities in the United Nations system and beyond. His participation in the Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) has served as a useful entry point for policy advice and dialogue with the Secretary-General and the Executive Heads of the United Nations system. In 2017, Mr. Malone, on behalf of UNU, served concurrently as Chair of the Global Migration Group — the United Nations inter-agency entity tasked with promoting coherence and better coordinated approaches to international migration.
Mr. Malone was previously President of Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), a funding agency supporting policy-relevant research in the developing world. He was also the country’s representative to the Economic and Social Council and then Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York from 1990 to 1994. He chaired the negotiations of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations, and the General Assembly’s related negotiations, from 1992 to 1994. Later, after overseeing Canada’s economic and multilateral diplomacy within the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Mr. Malone was appointed Canada’s Envoy to India, Nepal and Bhutan. He also served as President of the International Peace Academy (now the International Peace Institute) in New York from 1998 to 2004, with a particular focus on research output, policy development and advocacy.
A graduate of l’École des Hautes Études Commerçiales in Montreal, of the American University in Cairo and of Harvard University, Mr. Malone holds a doctorate from Oxford University. Associated with New York University’s School of Law and Massey College at the University of Toronto, he has authored and co-edited several books, including Does the Elephant Dance? Contemporary Indian Foreign Policy (2011), Nepal in Transition: From People’s War to Fragile Peace (2012), International Development: Ideas, Practice and Prospects (2014); The UN Security Council in the 21st Century (2015); The Oxford Handbook of Indian Foreign Policy (2015) and The Law and Practice of the United Nations (2016).
The United Nations University (UNU) is a global research and teaching organization with 14 institutes and programmes in 13 countries around the world. Since its founding in 1975, its overarching goal is to contribute to global sustainable development that will enable present generations to live a decent life in peace, in freedom, in safety and in good health, without compromising the ability of future generations to do the same. In carrying out its work as the academic arm of the United Nations system, UNU is focusing on research, teaching and capacity-building, while also delivering advisory services as a think tank. The University maintains close cooperative relationships with other United Nations system entities (agencies, programmes, commissions, funds and convention secretariats), as well as with leading universities and research institutions all over the world.
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* This supersedes Press Release SG/A/1376-BIO/4422-UNU/211 of 3 October 2012.