Research Areas

The UIA has collected, published and disseminated information on international non-profit organizations as its central activity, since its foundation in 1907.  We believe that this information is important as non-governmental and voluntary associations are crucial actors in today’s society. It is through these groups and their networks that we can hope to respond to the increasingly complex problems facing the world. 

Within this concern with civil society, our special areas of interest can be loosely divided into several categories, listed below. It should be noted that these categories reflect arbitrary divides, and much of our work crosses these boundaries. Nonetheless, we hope it serves as an introductory outline for those unfamiliar with the extent of our work.  Projects undertaken, and publications/services produced in relation to the research areas are listed under each research area.

International Organizations and Civil Society

All of UIA’s research relates in some way to the study of international civil society and one of its central activities however is documenting international non-profit organizations and their preoccupations. This section provides a brief overview of some of this work. [Read more]

International Meetings and Conferences

Significant research at the UIA revolves around documenting meetings and events organized by international organizations in the form of the International Congress Calendar. Other work includes commentary on technical challenges of international conferences, participant interaction, knowledge sharing, and the progressive potential of transformative conferencing. [Read more]

Bibliographical Research

The UIA has been associated with bibliographical research since its creation in 1910. Its founder Paul Otlet, was the Secretary-General of the International Institute of Bibliography which first developed the Universal Decimal Classification. The UIA's bibliographical work includes publications produced by and about international organizations, conference proceedings, and bibliography relating to the themes of the Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential. [Read more]

Alternative Representations of Information

The UIA conducts research into new ways of presenting and conceptualizing debates and ideas around international civil society to inform debates on strategies for a better world order. Our pioneering work into alternative means of conceptualizing information and networks includes experiments with non-textual visualization or sonorification of information and the presentation of complex dialogue and strategy through metaphor. [Read more]
  • Encyclopedia
  • Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential project commentaries

  • 4469 reads
  • Add this page URL to your favourite network
  • Printer-friendly version