Global Research and Consulting Group Insights

Sustainability

Sustainable Architecture: Net-Zero Design and Energy Efficiency

Image credit: Vincent Callebaut ArchitecturesSustainability is quite simple. We depend on our natural environment to provide us with everything we need to survive. Sustainability is an effort to preserve the future by addressing

Radhika Todi

3 min read

ESG

Sustainable Future for the Oil and Gas Industry

Source:EY:Four trends driving the oil and gas industry in 2022 and beyondGiven the rising oil price of above $105 per barrel due to Russia-Ukraine tension and China’s COVID lockdown, there

Seora Kim

3 min read

Sustainability

Plastic in our Body

Microplastics. Photograph: David Kelly/Photograph David Kelly https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/mar/24/microplastics-found-in-human-blood-for-first-timeWe live in a world surrounded by plastics, from water bottles to shopping bags, to clothes we wear

Alejandra Bustamante

3 min read

Global Health

The importance of early diagnosis of autoimmune diseases

What are AI diseases? Throughout the process of evolution, our bodies have developed an immune system capable of facing external threats to our bodies through the production of specific antibodies. Oftentimes, healthy cells/

Maria Costa

4 min read

Sustainability

Is the Belt and Road Initiative Going Green?

The Belt and Road Initiative is a landmark Chinese infrastructure project that aims to establish global trade routes from Eastern Asia to the Southern tip of Africa. A primary goal of the initiative

Ethan Van Nostrand

3 min read

Inequality

The Hypocrisy of Hungary’s Refugee Crisis Response

“UN High Commissioner for Refugees Urges States to Urgently Lift Pandemic Restrictions on Asylum.” SchengenVisaInfo.com, Schagenvisainfo News, 23 May 2022, www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/un-high-commissioner-for-refugees-urges-states-to-urgently-lift-pandemic-restrictions-on-asylum/.As nations open their borders to those

Cecilia Marrinan

3 min read

Sustainability

Africa’s Youth Unemployment Crisis Is a Global Problem – Are Young Professionals' Potential Being Wasted?

Youth is Africa’s greatest asset, and its greatest challenge. Africa’s youth population is rapidly growing and expected to double to over 830 million by 2050 (3). In spite of this growth,

Sarah Sackey

4 min read

Feminism

“Anti-Feminism” and Gender Politics in South Korea

AFP-JIJIJust over a month ago, South Korea (referenced as “Korea”) elected its new president. Candidate Yoon Seok-yeol of the right-wing “People Power Party” defeated candidate Lee Jae-Myung of the incumbent left-wing Democratic Party,

Min Namgung

5 min read

Sustainability

Examining Food Aid in Latin America

AbstractAffecting more than one billion people in 2009, the worldwide ‘hunger pandemic’ has left many nations struggling to ensure the health and well-being of their citizens in a globalized society. Despite increases in

Emma Guard

14 min read

Development

How Computational Medicine Technologies Can Improve Health Delivery in Developing Countries

Fig. 1: Harnessing emerging technologies and analytics to increase healthcare availability (11) Computational medicine, an emerging field that seeks to improve patient care and accessibility through technology and data, promises to revolutionize healthcare

Shashank Jarmale

4 min read

Sustainability

Fast Fashion: A Fast-Growing Problem

Schlossberg, Tatiana. “How Fast Fashion Is Destroying the Planet.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 3 Sept. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/09/03/books/review/how-fast-fashion-is-destroying-the-planet.html.The fashion industry

Lisa Liong

3 min read

Sustainability

The Sustainability of Bitcoin and its Impact on the Environment

Source: NBC News: Mining rigs at work in Romania farming for Ethereum and ZilliqiaWhen it comes to cryptocurrencies, anyone with the right hardware and software can become miners. Consequently, the ease of availability

Eunice Rho

10 min read

Entrepreneurship

Why Companies are Leaving Silicon Valley: The “Ideal” Location for Startups

Silicon Valley has earned itself the reputation of being a startup heaven, with major tech giants like Apple, Google, and HP establishing their headquarters there. Located in the South San Francisco Bay Area

Vongdara Ryan De Lopez

3 min read

Technology

Why Uber Failed in Russia

Uber, the world-wide ride hailing sensation, meteorically rose to success. It is often cited as the pinnacle of the start-up, and is a company whose growth new entrepreneurs strive to emulate. Uber was

Daniel Trincher

2 min read

Development

Unethical Mindset of Instagram Users

Diverse demographics of people use various forms of social media such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter. Social media allows people to build relationships, explore contents, and make partnerships. However, social media may

Jeein Hong

7 min read

Development

U.S. Hospital Cybersecurity is in Critical Condition

The U.S. healthcare sector’s fragile cybersecurity infrastructure continually suffers from cyberattacks that threaten safe healthcare delivery. In 2020, the first patient death attributed to a ransomware attack occurred (6, 8). Cyberattacks

Natalie Hammel

5 min read

Development

Selling Space: Are we entering a new era of commercial space exploration?

You may have noticed billionaires like Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk making headlines recently for announcing their new involvements in outer space. These men are not trained astronauts or astrophysicists, yet they have

Molly Knoell

4 min read

Inequality

The Social and Economic Cases for Paid Parental Leave in the United States

Bangs, Molly. “The Facts Behind Why Americans Need Nationwide Paid Family Leave.” The Century Foundation, 11 May 2016, https://tcf.org/content/facts/facts-behind-americans-need-nationwide-paid-family-leave/?agreed=1.The United States is the only developed

Lisa Liong

3 min read

Goverment

Impact of immigration restrictions made by the Trump Administration on the "American Dream" and immigrant businesses in the US

We’ve all heard of the American Dream, the belief that regardless of background, race, or socioeconomic status, one can achieve success on the lands of the United States. But is it really

Haily Rosario

4 min read

Sustainability

The Impact of Solar Energy on the American South

Image Credit: Tsvetan IvanovSolar power has grown immensely in the last decade, becoming a dominant energy source in the transition to renewable energy. Already, solar power employs more US workers than oil, gas,

Tyler Bates

2 min read

Refuting the “Revenue Argument” in Women’s Soccer Pay Inequality

Richard Heathcote (Getty Images)The US women’s soccer team has won four FIFA World Cup titles in the nearly 37 years since its first game in Italy in 1985. (US Soccer, Lenthang)

Megan K. Baloutch

6 min read

Technology

The Question of Digital Illiteracy in Older Adults and COVID-19

Photo by NordWood Themes on Unsplash (https://unsplash.com/photos/yyMJNPgQ-X8)Entering the 27th month of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is not difficult for us to grasp a sense of how substantial the

Min Namgung

5 min read

Inequality

Radical South Asian Solidarity Through Times of Crisis

TODAY Illustration / Getty ImagesWe currently live in a world where racial, gender and class-based divisions reign over the ways society is shaped. Our history with organized and systematic oppression has not been eradicated

Diyarhi Roy

3 min read

Sustainability

China is a Major Player in the Electric Vehicles Market

The term “electric vehicle” (EV) refers to both solely battery electric vehicles (BEVs), which use a battery and an electric motor instead of the tradition gasoline tank and internal combustion engine, and plug-in

Linda Wu

2 min read

Inclusion and Diversity

Why American Airlines is the Leader in DEI in the Airline Industry

The airline industry in the United States has a complicated history when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Many Americans will be unsurprised to learn that few members of minority groups flew

Amin Ahmed

3 min read

Woman's Rights

Impact of Texas’ 2021 Abortion Ban on Women In The Workplace

Author’s Note: I use the term “women” in this piece but recognize that many different identities can be affected by lack of access to abortion. Babies aren’t magically dropped from the

Haily Rosario

4 min read

Sustainability

The Hidden Implications and Social Cost of Climate Colonialism

Briggs, Helen. “Carbon: How Calls for Climate Justice Are Shaking the World.” BBC News, BBC, 2 May 2021, www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56941979.Climate change is rooted in the intersection of capitalism and

Cecilia Marrinan

4 min read

Human Rights Abuses from the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War

The Caucasus region broke out in war in September, 2020 as tensions rose over Armenia and Azerbaijan over who would control the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. This article gives a special look at some of the human rights abuses committed during this war.

Armen Phelps

11 min read

Columbia

Tackling the E-Waste Problem by Encouraging Ethical Tech Consumerism

By Eleanor Yeo, Columbia GRC Image source: E-waste Day aims to increase recycling rates of electronicsThe Status Quo It has been no secret that humankind is facing an increasingly dire environmental crisis, with

Eleanor Yeo

6 min read

Columbia

Big Data Analytics: The Future of Supply Chain Management

By Kelly Mi, Columbia GRC Harnessing technology and analytics to optimize supply chains.The volatility of the global supply chain has never been more evident than now. By definition, a supply chain is

Kelly Mi

4 min read

Sex bias in Drug Development, and Why It Will Grow Even Faster Unless Regulators Step in

Cover image credit: Roberto Sorin, Unsplash.com By Jan K. Kryca The tragic launch of Thalidomide, a general purpose tranquilising drug which eventually became a standard recommendation for morning sickness relief by clinicians

Harvard GRC

4 min read

Homelessness and Covid in the US

Cover Image credit: Jon Tyson, Unsplash.com By Beatriz Terres Homelessness has been an issue in the US since 1870. At that time, the Industrial Revolution pushed skilled workers and farmers out of

Harvard GRC

4 min read

The Environmental Impact of Cryptocurrency

Cover image credit: Art Rachen, Unsplash.com By Andrew Lobo The last few years have been characterized by mask-wearing, social-distancing, and an unprecedented rise in cryptocurrency demand. Cryptocurrency is defined as a digital

Harvard GRC

4 min read

Ban the Box: An Effective Component of Reintegration Efforts

Cover image credits: Tim Hüfner, Unsplash.com By Grant Williams Perhaps nothing communicates the dismal state of the United States’ criminal justice system more immediately than its staggeringly high recidivism rates; around 46%

Harvard GRC

4 min read

Do we know the real cause behind the lack of women in tech?

Why is 57 percent of the U.S. workforce made up of women and yet they only hold 26 percent of tech-related positions? Why do only 56 percent of Silicon Valley start-ups have

Trushti Modi

3 min read

Has China already entered the "low fertility trap"?

An infant with their father in China. (Credit: Alexander Muller/Providence Magazine). Licensed under CC BY 3.0.What is the "low fertility trap"? Recently, Minister of Civil Affairs Li Jiheng wrote in

Constantine Li

5 min read

Harvard

The Effect of Covid-19 on Economic Inequality

A demonstrator calls attention to income inequality during the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York several years ago. Photo: Mat McDermott (CC-BY)Today, the magnitude of the economic inequality present in the

Osahon Tokunboh

4 min read

Harvard

The Tragedy of Workplace Gender Inequality: Why Fewer Women Occupy Managerial Positions

Fewer CEOs are women than are named John and David. (Source: Execucomp). Licensed under CC BY 2.0.This article consists of two interviews, one with Professor Laura Kray and one with organizational

Chenyu Wang

12 min read

Harvard

Quantum Computing and its Effects on Our Productivity

IBM researcher Jerry Chow in the quantum computing lab at IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center. (Credit: Jon Simon/Feature Photo Service for IBM). Licensed under CC BY 2.0.What is quantum

Brian Ma

3 min read

Harvard

The State of the World's Children

In 1959, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1). We — as a global community — thus began to hold these truths to be self-evident, that the

Kyla N Golding

4 min read

Harvard

The Complexity Around Fair Trade

The rise of fair trade can stem all the way back to the age of colonization when traders exploited countries in Asia, South America, and Asia of their commodities. While traders profited off

Meiyi Yan

3 min read

Harvard

Diversity and Inclusion in Outdoor Sports

Deschutes Wild and Scenic River, Oregon (Credit: Bureau of Land Management). Licensed under CC BY 2.0.Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, outdoor recreation has come to the forefront of social life as an

Since the introduction of COVID-19 in late December of 2019, COVID’s rampant spread has locked down families, communities and global economies. With a host of problems ranging from vaccine procurement to administration, Africa’s vaccination effort is in dire need of assistance.

Ethan Soe

6 min read

Harvard

COVID-19’s Impact on America’s Food System

Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States of America, people across the country have been heavily impacted economically, socially, and physically. COVID-19 has exposed a multitude of problems outside of only the

Meiyi Yan

3 min read

Berkeley

The History and Growth of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Profession

As employees discuss their discriminative experiences in the workplace, executives are scrambling to improve their organizations' hiring practices and company culture. This has led to the rapid expansion of corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.

The world is in a race to oppose the continuously growing threat of climate change. Put simply, climate change is one of the most pressing of our time. Even the UN Secretary-General has

Jacob Gould

5 min read

Harvard

Permanently Altered: How Covid-19 Has Impacted Leisure and Travel

Since last March, Covid-19 has become a global antagonist of the global community. People from every corner of the world have been forced to change their everyday routines in various ways including decreasing

Chenyu Wang

5 min read

Brown

Chinatown Moves Out: Demography and Hate Crime in Modern Asian America

Take a look at Sugarland in Texas, Rockville in Maryland, and Richmond in British Columbia. What do all of these places have in common? On the surface, they may seem to be average,

Steven Long

3 min read

Harvard

The Journey Towards Net Zero in Transportation

In February 2020, a coalition of airlines, airports, and manufacturers known as UK Sustainable Aviation announced they were committing to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by the year 2050 (1)(2). Their claim is

John Berkay

6 min read

Harvard

A New Scramble for Africa: US and Chinese Engagements in the Region

As of March 13, 2021, the total number of Covid-19 cases in the United States topped 30 million. On the other side of the Pacific, the number of cases in China has yet

Ibrahima Diagne

4 min read

Brett Kopf: Remind.com, Omella, and the Reflections of an Entrepreneur

American entrepreneur Brett Kopf reflects on his entrepreneurial journey, the challenges along the way, and the importance of optimizing for learning rather than a pay-check. Brett is the co-founder of Omella.com and

Herman Lange

1 min read

Cambridge

The future of a clean and sustainable shipping industry

The shipping industry is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. This article explores the options we have to make the global shipping industry more sustainable.

Yong Ren Tan

6 min read

Inequality

The Feminicidio Crisis in Mexico

The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated communities all over the world. In Mexico, women have been disproportionately affected due to increasing domestic abuse and the rise of feminicidios.

Ines Hinojosa

5 min read

Global Health

Are All Generic Drugs Created Equal?

For rich and developing countries alike, it is imperative to confront issues of drug safety, quality, and manufacturing to ensure an equitable distribution of essential medicines to the populations who need them most.

Irene Quan

3 min read

governance

The World Economic Forum: Its Past and Present

Every January, the world’s attention turns to the small Swiss town of Davos, as societal elites gather for the World Economic Forum (WEF). This meeting of world leaders, top business executives and

David Hu

3 min read

Development

Artificial Intelligence: Stopping Violent Attackers in Their Tracks

“Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” For decades, the NRA and other pro-gun special interest groups have justified their exorbitant lobbying spending – over $250 million total – on this line of logic.

Anuj Kothari

4 min read

ESG

Shoes for Social Impact: An Interview with the Chief Strategy and Impact Officer of TOMS

TOMS Shoes (Credit: Ajay Suresh 2021). Licensed under CC BY 2.0.When I was ten years old, my mom and I purchased matching navy blue and floral shoes from TOMS. I was

Kaitlin McGrath

8 min read

Development

Financial Inclusion: Designing Solutions to Provide Vital Economic Services

Localized financial literacy and digital transaction capabilities can create scalable financial access to unbanked communities in emerging markets.

Shivansh Mehta

5 min read

Development

M-Pesa in East Africa: A Means for Social Change

Safaricom's revolutionary M-Pesa mobile money system offers the potential for transformative change in East Africa and worldwide.

Marcus Deans

4 min read

Development

The Movement for Agricultural Reform in India

Economists generally agree that India’s agricultural sector needs reform, starting with reducing incentives to produce crops like rice and wheat. As of September 2020, 70 million tons of rice and wheat were

Tanya Venkatesh

6 min read

ESG

The Future of the Keystone Pipeline

The election of Joseph R. Biden in early November will return to the normal diplomatic and economic relationship between Canada and the United States from the “America First” policy implemented during the Trump

Constantine Li

3 min read

Education

Trends in Education in Typically Academically-Focused Countries

It was a special day in Singapore for twelve-year-old children and their parents on November 25, 2020. This day marked a milestone for many of these students, and for some, it was a

Yiting Gao

3 min read

Climate Change

Fracking: Its History in the US and Its Impacts on Climate Change

What is Fracking? Fracking is a drilling technique that allows oil and natural gas to be produced. Processes similar to fracking have been around since the 1860s. It was first used on hard

Camila Hirani

4 min read

Energy

Green Hydrogen: Fuel of the Future?

Scientists are certain that without drastic countermeasures and new technology, global warming will continue to cause ever more disruptive environmental, economic and social disasters. Furthermore, current research emphasizes that to slow global warming

David Hu

4 min read

Technology

Telemedicine: From Face-to-Face to Interface

The re-energized advent of telemedicine has opened doors to additional opportunities that will not only reduce exposure to COVID-19 and mitigate strains on hospital systems, but also expand access to healthcare and improve overall health outcomes for years to come.

Irene Quan

3 min read

Impact Investing

Impact Investment in Argentina: From "Growth Disaster" to High Growth State?

Argentina has been known as a “growth disaster” due to its decades-long economic stagnation despite promising growth trends in the early 20th century. In the first few years of the 1900s, Argentina’s

Phoebe Cahill

5 min read

Development

Why is American Healthcare so expensive?

$3.6 trillion or 17.7% of America’s GDP is spent on healthcare every year – nearly twice that of the average OECD country.(1)(2) Despite this, Americans do not have better

Tanya Venkatesh

5 min read

Global Health

The Forgotten Pandemic: The Rise of STDs during COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has overtaken the world, radically changing the nature of healthcare and treatment, disrupting daily life, and causing widespread illness and panic. As the world’s focus has shifted to this

Phoebe Cahill

3 min read

Business

Understanding the Disconnect between the Stock Market and the COVID-19 Economy

The S&P 500 has reached multiple record highs this year, despite the nation’s worst unemployment rate since the great depression. For many Americans, this obvious disconnect between the stock market and the economic health of America is confusing and hints at stark inequalities in society.

Hunter Siebel

4 min read

Climate Change

Geoengineering: An Efficient Method of Climate Change Mitigation or a Future Global Catastrophe?

Climate change is widely perceived as an existential threat to global biodiversity and to the human race itself. New climate modeling consistently suggests that without enormous, rapid changes to the carbon-based world energy infrastructure, there will be vast temperature increases

Elliott Hyman

6 min read

Global Health

Lifeboat Ethics: Understanding How a COVID-19 Vaccine Could Exacerbate Global Inequality

The lifeboat ethics dilemma is easy to understand, hard to resolve, and entirely a problem of resource allocation. Proposed by ecologist Garrett Hardin, lifeboat ethics is a metaphor depicting a lifeboat with the capacity to save only a limited number of vulnerable swimmers without capsizing

Benjamin Fu

3 min read

Education

Coronavirus and Colleges: Coughs, Classes, and Considerations

Over the past six months, the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has delivered a very significant and systemic impact on the way that we lived our lives. However, nowhere is the impact of COVID-19 felt than on the economics of America’s colleges and universities.

Sammer Marzouk

5 min read

COVID-19

An Epidemic Inside of a Pandemic: How COVID-19 has impacted the Ongoing Opioid Crisis

Nearly three-quarters of a million people have died due to the opioid epidemic from 1999 to 2018 (1). This crisis has affected individuals throughout the entire economic and geographic spectrum in the United

Raviraj Rege

3 min read

Development

Team Performance in Long-Duration Space Exploration

2020 has been an important year for space exploration, amongst other things. Space missions of a startling variety and ambition are scheduled for launch this year. Indeed, space engineers have not planned so

Despite composing a whopping seventy-five percent of the nonprofit workforce, women only occupy twenty-one percent of leadership roles in large nonprofits (those with budgets in excess of $25 million). Indeed, the bigger the nonprofit, the bigger the gap.

Catherine Beddingfield

3 min read

Food Systems

GMOs Changing the Way Communities See Food

Given current trends, the global population is expected to reach an estimated nine billion people by 2050. While this raises a whole host of questions that affect the medical and scientific industries, one of the most important impacts has been on the agricultural sector.

Ahab Chopra

3 min read

Technology

From Open Skies to Big Data: The Next Force for Creative Destruction in the Airline Industry

Leveraging big data is the next key goal for airlines as greater understanding of clients’ needs and requests from dietary requirements to entertainment preferences allows for greater customization and better practice of second-degree price discrimination.

Justin Chan

4 min read

Sustainability

Transforming Cities for Sustainability

Majority-wise cities have become synonymous with being overpopulated, cramped, noisy, crime-ridden, and polluted. Approximately 70% of global carbon emissions currently originate from cities themselves, and according to the UN, the world’s population

Karina Strauch

4 min read

Development

Fostering entrepreneurial spirit and innovation in post-genocide Rwanda

In the 25 years since their devastating genocide, the Rwandan government 's innovative strategies have helped to redefine the nature of business on the African continent.

Andrea Jury

4 min read

Global Health

Hospitals Vanishing from Rural America

The increasing rate of rural hospitals closures is negatively impacting the health of rural Americans and the economy of rural communities.

James Bradley Parente

4 min read

Sustainability

Fashion Emissions: Fashion Industry’s Environmental Costs

The global fashion industry is having a catastrophic impact on the environment. This industry is the cause of significant carbon emissions, water pollution, natural resource depletion, and enormous waste generation. In fact, according

Harkirat Bhullar

3 min read

Sustainability

Challenges and Benefits of GMOs in the Fight Against the Global Food Shortage Crisis

How we can utilize genetically-engineered crops to solve the world hunger crisis

Thomas Junghyun Yoo

3 min read