The University is to launch a Global Health Academy. The Academy will bring together staff from across the University to collaborate on global health challenges including, obesity, pandemic flu, tuberculosis, diabetes and tropical diseases such as malaria, sleeping sickness and rabies. The Global Health Academy will be the first in a series of academies launched by the University. Others will focus on climate change and international development. Image UNESCO backs international research chair UNESCO has backed a key post to further University research into international development. The UNESCO Chair in International Development is awarded as the University launches a series of initiatives that will seek to benefit the developing world. The first Chair holder will be Paul van Gardingen, Professor of International Development. He joins a global network of academics supported by UNESCO - the UN agency for science, culture and education. The award of a UNESCO Chair recognises the staff and resources that the University has invested in the developing world. The University of Edinburgh has been an international institution from its inception and this prestigious award recognises our continuing links to Africa and other developing regions, and the impact our research can have in improving the lives of people in some of the world’s most impoverished places. Paul van GardingenUNESCO Chair in International Development Publication date 18 Jun, 2015