Trade Policies Unraveled: Q&A With Economist Matilde Bombardini
A Berkeley economist comments on the uncertainty and unpredictable aura around newly imposed tariffs.
Why Are There So Many People From the Philippines in Hawaii? Colonialism.
UC Berkeley professor delves deeper into the reason behind the seemingly large populations of Filipinx families in Hawaii.
As Refugees Surge, European Voters Show ‘Resilient’ Support, Study Finds
New research co-authored at UC Berkeley finds European support remains solid for refugees who are forced to leave their home countries.
Advising Germany
Professor Ulrike Malmendier discusses her role as a top economic expert in Europe.
UC Berkeley School of Public Health Receives NIH Grant for HIV Prevention in Zimbabwe
National Institute of Health awarded researchers at the School of Public Health a grant to develop a model to prevent women in Zimbabwe from contracting HIV.
The Netherlands’ Queen Visits UC Berkeley, Global Research Network Announced
The new network aims to facilitate research excellence and knowledge-sharing among Dutch researchers.
UC Berkeley Engineers Send Equipment, Expertise to Ransacked Chernobyl
To help in the relief effort after the Russian occupation of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine in spring 2022, nuclear engineers at UC Berkeley are testing and refurbishing critical pieces of equipment to send to their collaborators at Chernobyl, the site of a 1986 nuclear explosion that spread radioactive contamination throughout the region.
A Month at War: Berkeley’s Ukrainian Students Turn Shock, Anger Into Action
Among the small community of Ukrainians and Ukrainian-Americans at UC Berkeley, other students tell similar stories. The invasion four weeks ago triggered a nearly overwhelming surge of anxiety and anger, but many have found ways to transform those emotions into action, sometimes working with anti-war Russian students and others from the region.
Mobile Phone Data and Machine Learning Helped Togo Government Provide Assistance
UC Berkeley-led researchers used mobile phone data and machine learning to quickly and accurately direct the Togolese government’s COVID-19 cash assistance to its poorest residents in a first-of-its-kind study published March 16 in Nature.
Russia’s Attack: Ukraine War Turns Into a Perilous Global Economic Conflict
The cameras are focused on the savage Russian bombardment of Ukraine and the resistance of Ukrainians and Russian protesters, but largely off-camera, the war is unfolding as a rapidly escalating economic conflict that has sent shock waves around the world.
As the World Watches Ukraine, Berkeley Law Experts Discuss Recent Events and What to Expect
As the fighting in Ukraine continued Feb. 28, some of Berkeley Law’s international law experts gathered to discuss the legal and strategic implications of what’s happened — and what might come next. The hybrid roundtable drew a crowd in person and online and was moderated by Berkeley Law Professor Katerina Linos and co-sponsored by the office of Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and the school’s Miller Institute for Global Challenges and the Law, where Linos is the co-faculty director.
Berkeley Talks: UC Berkeley Experts on the Invasion of Ukraine
In episode 135 of Berkeley Talks, UC Berkeley political scientist George Breslauer and economics professor Yuriy Gorodnichenko discuss Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine — what his motivations are and how they compare to Adolf Hitler’s and Joseph Stalin’s, if the invasion was avoidable and what should be done about it.
With Defiance and Solidarity, Berkeley’s Ukrainian Scholars Respond to Invasion
In the hours immediately following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Berkeley News asked Ukrainian faculty and students at UC Berkeley for their reactions. Their thoughts ranged across issues of family, geopolitics and justice, but each of them, in their own ways, expressed shock and defiance — and hope that the global community would rally to protect democracy and freedom.
For Berkeley Scientist Polina Lishko, a Time of Sadness and Anger for Ukraine
As Russian missiles exploded throughout Ukraine and Russian troops advanced toward the capital city of Kyiv this week, Polina Lishko was in her UC Berkeley office thinking about her family, and about the history of their Ukrainian homeland.
Putin’s War and Its Economic and Geopolitical Realities
We must do what we can to contain Vladimir Putin’s aggression in Ukraine. But we also need to be clear-eyed about it, and face the costs. As I’ve said before, economics can’t be separated from politics, and neither can be separated from history. Here are eight sobering realities.
Berkeley Talks: The EU in Crisis
The co-editors of The Palgrave Handbook of EU Crises discuss their research that explores the European Union’s institutional and policy responses to crises across policy domains and institutions, including the Euro crisis, Brexit, the Ukraine crisis, the refugee crisis and the global health crisis caused by COVID-19.
Could Ukraine Be a Tombstone for Russian Power? Or for the Western Alliance?
Berkeley News talked with two veteran Russia scholars: George Breslauer and M. Steven Fish, both political scientists at UC Berkeley.
Based on their decades of research and experience with contemporary Russia, they offered compelling insights into the mind and heart of Russia’s leader: his immediate objectives in Ukraine and his overarching vision for Russia. They also reflected on the U.S. response to Putin’s military threat, the field of options for both sides, and possible long-term scenarios.
Nobel Laureate David Card Believes Scholars Need a Global Perspective
In an interview with Al-Fanar Media, David Card, a co-winner of this year's Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences talked about his research and its implications for the Arab world. He also shared with young scholars his ideas on the importance of having a global perspective. Card, a Canadian-American labor economist and professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, won the prize along with Joshua Angrist and Guido Imbens.
A Bold Berkeley Program Is Improving Human Lives in Low-Income Countries
The program run for five years by the Center for Effective Global Action has supported government improvements across continents.
The Transformation of Africa’s Energy Sector
To meet the development needs of a growing population, Africa’s electricity sector requires a major transformation. New research, co-authored at the UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy, identifies five sets of complementary actions to put Africa’s electricity sector on track to sharply increase electrification rates and secure long-term access to affordable and cleaner energy.
New leadership in CLAS and CMES
The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Global, International, and Area Studies, are pleased to announce the appointments of Natalia Brizuela as Chair of the Center for Latin American Studies, and Asad Q. Ahmed, Chair of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies.
Faculty Members Share Research Findings and Insights Leading Into World Refugee Day
With an estimated 80 million refugees and displaced people facing increased uncertainty and growing crises, this year’s World Refugee Day on June 20 carries added significance.
That urgency is evident at Berkeley Law. Faculty lead seminal research and often coordinate their efforts through the Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative, clinics provide vital legal assistance, centers and institutes offer robust programming, and student groups such as the International Refugee Assistance Project advocate for rights and protections.
How Satellite Images Are Helping One Country Hand Out Cash
Aerial satellite photos can tell us a lot about the wealth of a certain area. The West African nation of Togo has found a high-tech way to identify people who need financial help in the pandemic and send them emergency cash. They use computers to search for clues in satellite images, then distribute money through mobile phones. A partnership with the UC Berkeley Center for Effective Global Action has made artificial intelligence - driven by big data and satellite images and phone records - a key tool in relieving poverty. For more on this, see our press release at Berkeley News.
Why violence has re-emerged in Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict
Fierce battles continue in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that has killed at least 1,000 people, and possibly many more. The fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan threatens to destabilize the South Caucasus region, in what has been one of the world’s most protracted wars; three cease-fires have already collapsed since hostilities flared at the end of September.
Hindu kids more apt to echo propaganda that ‘Indian equals Hindu’
With a multi-faith population of some 1.3 billion, India claims to be the world’s largest secular democracy. But when it comes to the question of who is a true Indian, the country’s Hindu children are more likely than their Muslim peers to connect their faith to their national identity, according to new research from UC Berkeley.
Teeter totters as activism: How the border wall became a playground
When UC Berkeley architect Ronald Rael took his bright pink teeter totters to the U.S.-Mexico border wall, he didn’t know what he and his team did next would go viral. He just wanted to create a moment where people on both sides of the wall felt connected to each other. “Women and children completely disempowered this wall for a moment, for 40 minutes,” says Rael. “There was a kind of sanctuary hovering over this event.”
Hindu and Muslim children show unexpected religious tolerance
In a region of India with a long history of tension between Hindus and Muslims, children of different faiths are showing unexpected tolerance for one another’s religious beliefs and customs.
History professor’s ‘Work of the Dead’ wins 2018 Shannon Prize
“The Work of the Dead,” a book by history professor Thomas W. Laqueur, was selected to receive the 2018 Shannon Prize in Contemporary European Studies.
Berkeley part of new international Buddhist Studies network
Center for Buddhist Studies is part of a new international network of universities that is receiving $4.9 million to advance the study of Buddhism and East Asian cultures.
A research experience to smile about
Neha Zahid came to Puranchaur and Hansapur in the winter of 2016 with Karen Sokal-Gutierrez in collaboration with a local Nepali non-profit organization, Jevaia Oral Health Care, to teach proper nutrition and oral hygiene.
On the ground in Greece, students test tech to help refugees
In a sweltering a refugee camp on the Greek mainland, Berkeley Haas MBA student Sarrah Nomanbhoy listened closely as a mother and her teenage son told their story.
European Patent Office to grant UC a broad patent on CRISPR-Cas9
The European Patent Office (EPO) has announced its intention to grant a broad patent for the revolutionary CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology to the University of California, the University of Vienna and Emmanuelle Charpentier.
Renewable energy has robust future in much of Africa
As Africa gears up for a tripling of electricity demand by 2030, a new Berkeley study maps out a viable strategy for developing wind and solar power while simultaneously reducing the continent’s reliance on fossil fuels and lowering power plant construction costs.
Researchers unveil new initiative on human migration
UC Berkeley researchers today announced the launch of the Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative, a joint project of faculty, researchers and students that will explore such timely issues as refugee crises, human rights, mmigration, nativism and border control concerns.
Berkeley SETI turns Australian telescope on nearest exoplanet to Earth
Breakthrough Listen, the UC Berkeley-led 10-year, $100 million search for intelligent life beyond Earth, inaugurated its observations with the Parkes Radio Telescope in Australia.
To improve Beijing’s air quality, cut household fuel use too
China’s plans to curb Beijing’s health-damaging air pollution by focusing on restricting emissions from power plants and vehicles may have limited impact if household use of coal and other dirty fuels is not also curtailed, according to a new study.
Taiwan’s Tang Prizes awarded to Doudna, Rosenfeld
Taiwan’s top science award, the Tang Prize, has gone to two UC Berkeley scientists well-known in the fields of biochemistry and physics: Jennifer Doudna, for her invention of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, and Arthur Rosenfeld, often called the “godfather of energy efficiency.”
The case for accepting more, not fewer, Syrian refugees
Kate Jastram, an attorney and UC Berkeley expert in forced migrations, says closing U.S. doors to Syrian refugees would deepen America’s anti-Muslim reputation and alienate the 3.3 millions Muslims already living here.
UC Berkeley first university to house a center for Bangladesh studies
The first university-housed center for Bangladesh studies officially opens at UC Berkeley on March 30 with Chancellor Nicholas Dirks presiding over an invitation-only ribbon-cutting ceremony followed by a talk by Sir Fazle Abed, founder and CEO of BRAC, one of the world’s largest NGOs.
Long dry spell doomed Mexican city 1,000 years ago
The former city and now archaeological site called Cantona in the highlands east of Mexico City appears to have been abandoned nearly 1,000 years ago as a result of a prolonged dry spell that lasted about 650 years, according to a new study.
Bangladesh takes center stage with Subir and Malini Chowdhury Center
Bangladesh may be known mostly for its poverty, environmental vulnerability and deadly factory fires, but the new Subir and Malini Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, is ready to prove that this South Asian country of over 160 million people has a lot more to teach the rest of the world.
Michael Dear Receives AAG Global Book Award
Michael Dear’s Why Walls Won’t Work: Repairing the US–Mexico Divide, published by Oxford University Press, has been selected by the Globe Book Award Committee to receive the 2013 Association of American Geographers Globe Book Award for Public Understanding of Geography.
Magnes exhibition explores intellectual migration
A new exhibition at UC Berkeley’s Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life tells the stories of more than 70 scholars, writers and artists – many of them Jewish, related to Jews or political dissidents – who escaped the rise of Nazism and fascism in Europe and brought their talents and dreams with them to UC Berkeley.
Launch of antimalarial drug a triumph for UC Berkeley, synthetic biology
Twelve years after a breakthrough discovery in his University of California, Berkeley, laboratory, professor of chemical engineering Jay Keasling is seeing his dream come true.
New AIDS research uses models to see through lies about sex, inform HIV policy
The increasingly couples-focused public-health policy for AIDS prevention in sub-Saharan Africa underestimates the role that cheating spouses play in transmitting the virus, according to a new study from the University of California, Berkeley.
Playwright/alum Stan Lai to discuss creativity, theater
Stan Lai, considered the leading playwright/director in Asia and one of the region’s most prolific, is taking a break from his hectic schedule and heading back to his alma mater, the University of California, Berkeley, for a series of public talks and workshops about his own artistic practice and the state of modern theater.
Berkeley Law Launches Center on Reproductive Rights and Justice
On the eve of the 40-year anniversary of Roe v. Wade, UC Berkeley School of Law today announced the formal launch of its new Center on Reproductive Rights and Justice (CRRJ). It is one of the first research centers to study the legal, economic, and social impact of reproductive laws on women, families, and communities.
Thnx4.org goes live to both teach and research the power of gratitude
UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center is providing an easy way to give thanks and, at the same time, contribute to a national research project on the power of gratitude
Probing the depths of poll work
About a million Americans — 100,000 of them in California — will spend Election Day as poll workers. Karin Mac Donald and Bonnie Glaser, director and research specialist, respectively, at Berkeley Law’s Election Administration Research Center, say it’s a role that’s stressful and underappreciated.
New GOTV efforts could help Latino voters achieve political potential, says researcher
Lisa García Bedolla, a University of California, Berkeley, expert on voter mobilization, says Latinos are far from casting votes in numbers that truly reflect their growing population and potential political power.