• Our goals

Against the backdrop of ongoing sustainability and technological transformations, the goals of the GTGLab are to

  • Develop new cross-disciplinary concepts, tools, methods and theories to study challenges of global governance;

  • Generate evidence about the effectiveness of global governance instruments, mechanisms, and arrangements;

  • Advance our understanding of how to design governance mechanisms that fit the nature of global challenges;

  • Train a new generation of researchers in global governance with cross-disciplinary and systems skills.

Created at the Global Studies Institute of the University of Geneva in Spring 2018, the Geneva Transformative Governance Lab (GTGL) conducts research on the governance of complex global challenges such as emerging infectious diseases, financial and economic crises, widespread disinformation and the rise of extremism.

These challenges not only transcend classical boundaries and levels of analysis (political, economic, cultural, sectoral, and disciplinary) but are also strongly coupled and interdependent. Addressing these complex global challenges requires effective yet nimble institutions at all levels of governance as an essential part of resilient and sustainable societies.

Driven by a worldview rooted in systems and complexity science, the GTGLab is a space for researchers from all relevant disciplines to collaborate across sectors, levels of organisation and scales to encourage innovative thinking and build the scientific foundations for adaptive and transformative governance in the 21st century.

As a hub in global governance, Geneva is a densely populated network of people and international organizations. Researchers at the GTGL work at the science policy interface including with international organizations based in Geneva to provide relevant evidence and perspectives.