At AIDS 2026 in Rio de Janeiro, the UNAIDS Executive Director urged governments to protect decades of progress as declining international financing, unequal treatment access and rising infections in parts of the world threaten the global response. At the 26th International AIDS Conference, Winnie Byanyima delivered a message of guarded
Few positions within the United Nations are as scrutinized—or as consequential—as that of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. At a time when armed conflicts, democratic backsliding, mass displacement, and geopolitical rivalry are testing the international rules-based order, Volker Türk has emerged as one of the UN system’s most
The world has entered a new era of energy investment. Governments are committing hundreds of billions of dollars to modernize electricity grids, scale renewable energy, expand battery storage and strengthen critical infrastructure. Yet while the global energy transition is accelerating, hundreds of millions of people still live without something many
As development budgets tighten and climate-vulnerable countries face rising costs, Mafalda Duarte is pursuing reforms intended to put billions more to work without waiting for new donor commitments. At a moment of mounting pressure on global climate finance, Mafalda Duarte is trying to show that multilateral institutions can expand their
Why Alexander De Croo Could Help Redefine the Future of UNDP Few world leaders have made the transition from national office to the helm of global development as naturally as Alexander De Croo. After serving as Prime Minister of Belgium from 2020 to 2025, De Croo now leads the United
Wally Funk, the pioneering American aviator who broke barriers for women in flight and, six decades after being denied a path to NASA’s astronaut corps, finally reached space at age 82, has died at 87. Her life was one of the great American stories of perseverance: a woman who passed
The Diplomat Bringing AI to the Heart of Global Governance Artificial intelligence is no longer simply a technological revolution. It has become a defining test of international cooperation. As President of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, H.E. Annalena Baerbock is helping ensure that AI is addressed
The Engineer Bringing AI Breakthroughs to Human Health Artificial intelligence is often discussed in terms of future possibilities. Dr. Joëlle Barral has spent her career turning those possibilities into real-world impact. As Senior Director of Research and Engineering at Google DeepMind, Barral leads some of the company’s most ambitious research
The AI Pioneer Building a Safer Future Few people have done more to create the modern era of artificial intelligence than Professor Yoshua Bengio. He is often described as one of the “godfathers of AI.” Bengio’s groundbreaking work in deep learning helped lay the scientific foundations for today’s generative AI
The Scholar Bridging East and West on AI Governance Artificial intelligence is reshaping geopolitics alongside technology. One of the world’s most important challenges is no longer simply developing more capable AI. It is building a shared framework for governing it. Few scholars have played a more influential role in that
