The City of Yokohama has positively invited the UNU-IAS to be relocated in Yokohama in an effort to invite international organizations to promote international cooperation. The UNU is most appreciative of the invitation being extended by the City of Yokohama. The UNU believes that the new location of UNU-IAS will enable the Institute to further extend its research and training activities given the international, progressive and forward-looking environment of Yokohama City.

The UNU-IAS is dedicated to research and training to meet the challenges of sustainable development. With its new location in Yokohama, it is expected that UNU-IAS will be able to enhance exchanges with universities, research institutions, international organizations, business, NGOs and citizens in Yokohama and Kanagawa Prefecture and internationally. It is also expected the Institute will contribute to the promotion of science and culture, international cooperation and international understanding in the City of Yokohama.

1. Organization:	United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS)
2. Location:	Yokohama International Organizations Center, Pacifico Yokohama, 1-1-1 Minato Mirai, Nishi-ku, Yokohama-shi
3. Size of premises:	1,530 ?
4. Date of relocation:	1 April 2004

The United Nations University (UNU) is an organ of the United Nations that devotes its work to research into the pressing global problems of human survival, development and welfare. The UNU's academic activities are coordinated and carried out by the UNU Centre and 14 RTC/Ps (Research and Training Centres/Programmes) as well as through a global network of associated and cooperating institutions and scholars.

The UNU-IAS is one of the five Research and Training Centres of the UNU. As an integral part of the UNU, the UNU-IAS is dedicated to advancing the frontiers of knowledge and promoting learning for policymaking so as to meet the challenges of sustainable development. The UNU-IAS is mandated to create rigorous community of scholars to conduct research and learning to foster multidisciplinary approaches and creative solutions to major problems of humankind.

The current research agenda is focused on strategic paths to sustainable development. Under this broad theme, the UNU-IAS is working on projects around the issues of Biodiversity Initiative that supports international diplomacy and policy-making concerning the advancement of biological sciences, Urban Ecosystems, Sustainable Development Governance, Science and Technology Policy Options for Developing Countries, and Education for Sustainable Development. The UNU-IAS also conducts capacity development / fellowships programme that aims at improving the capacity of young scientists, researchers and policy makers of developing countries.

[Organization of the UNU-IAS]
Total 37 in-house faculty member
- academic staff	14
- administrative staff	9
- fellows	14

[The Rector of UNU and the Director of UNU-IAS]

The Rector of the UNU (Under Secretary-General of the United Nations) is Professor Dr. Hans van Ginkel whose fields of interest are urban and regional development, population, housing studies, science policy, internationalization and university management. He has published widely on these areas, and has contributed extensively to the work of various international educational organizations. He was elected as President of the International Association of Universities (IAU, Paris) in August 2000. He is the former Rector of Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

The Director of the UNU-IAS is Professor Dr. A. H. Zakri, whose interests include biotechnology and biodiversity policies for developing countries. He is also the Co-Chair of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, an undertaking launched by the UN Secretary-General to assess the state-of-health of the world's ecosystems. He is a Vice President of the Third World Academy of Sciences, member of the Board of Trustees of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia.