| Inaugural Meeting of the Global Research Network Meeting Kicks Off
in Nairobi Nairobi, 1 November 2004: Today, some 30 international
multi-disciplinary research experts on human settlements converge in Nairobi,
Kenya for the inaugural meeting of the Global Research Network on Human
Settlements, HS-Net.
The meeting to be held at the UN-HABITAT headquarters in Gigiri will
be officially opened by the agency’s acting director for Monitoring
and Research Division Don Okpala.
HS-Net is a response to the growing need for a global system to keep
track of research in human settlements conditions and trends worldwide,
and also to the need to balance the availability of information on human
settlements in developed countries, especially as up-to-date, easily accessible
information is a key ingredient for developing nations as they seek to
attain the Millennium Development Goals.
A new initiative of UN-HABITAT, HS-Net brings together human settlements
researchers, research institutions and networks to build a dynamic, effective
and sustainable global system for researching and reporting on human settlements
conditions and trends.
The initiative also aims at providing advice to the UN-HABITAT Secretariat
on its flagship reports, the Global Report on Human Settlements and The
State of the World’s Cities, both published every two years. The
Network will promote the global sharing of human settlements information;
particularly new, cutting-edge human settlements research activities,
and concurrently build research capacity in human settlements.
To encourage empirical research, and particularly the development of
research capacity for researchers and institutions in developing countries,
HS-Net has launched an occasional paper series that will provide a forum
for the publication of the research findings of its members.
Additionally, the Network has plans to launch an annual awards programme,
provisionally titled UN-HABITAT LECTURE SERIES that seeks to identify
and publicize outstanding human settlements research. In keeping with
current IT trends, the Network intends to carry out most of its business
via an interactive website, also to be officially launched at the meeting.
Membership of HS-Net is open to researchers, research institutions and
networks that are actively engaged in human settlements issues.
For further information on the Network, please contact:
Sharad Shankardass, Spokesperson & Head, Press & Media Relations
Unit or Ms. Zahra A. Hassan, Tel: (254 20) 623153, 623151, Fax: (254 20)
624060, E-mail: habitat.press@unhabitat.org,
Website: www.unhabitat.org
or
The HS-Net Secretariat
UN-HABITAT
P. O. Box 30030
Nairobi 00100, Kenya
Tel: 254-020-623045
Fax: 254-020-624790
Email: HS-Net@un-habitat.org |