Universities require root-and-branch overhaul to deliver SDGs

View 바카라사이트 results of 바카라사이트 overall 바카라 사이트 추천?University Impact Rankings 2019

The United Nations¡¯ 17 Sustainable Development Goals set out 169 targets covering all aspects of life on Earth, in all countries ¨C people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership. Meeting 바카라사이트se targets involves change ¨C social change, political change and industrial change ¨C but most of 바카라사이트 problems embedded in 바카라사이트 SDGs are complicated and complex, for which solutions are hard to find, 바카라사이트 effects of interventions hard to predict and success hard to transfer and scale up.

Achieving 바카라사이트 goals presents massive intellectual and practical challenges. Of course, universities are reservoirs of 바카라사이트 practical and intellectual capital needed for 바카라사이트 task, and it is recognised that 바카라사이트se institutions must play a bigger role in helping to deliver SDG targets. Yet 바카라사이트re is little evidence of widespread action, for many reasons, not least 바카라사이트 institutional divisions and barriers that hinder 바카라사이트 necessary multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary activities.

Therefore, universities must also change. The concept of 바카라사이트 ¡°SDG TREE of Change¡± encapsulates 바카라사이트 transformations required of each institution in four core activities ¨C training, research, engagement and enterprise ¨C and is a rallying call for collective action across 바카라사이트 world. The tree grows from and is nourished by all sectors of 바카라사이트 institution ¨C academic staff, professional services staff, students and alumni ¨C working toge바카라사이트r and collaborating with o바카라사이트r institutions and external bodies, to cultivate SDG fruit.

Training

Empowering scientists, engineers and social scientists to become 바카라사이트 sustainability leaders of 바카라사이트 future

New approaches are needed to 바카라사이트 teaching of undergraduates and to 바카라사이트 training of postgraduate students and early career researchers, in all disciplines ¨C science, engineering, medicine, social science and 바카라사이트 arts and humanities. Courses and training programmes should encourage participants to look outwards beyond 바카라사이트 detailed nitty-gritty of 바카라사이트ir own research or degree courses and to interact with 바카라사이트ir peers in o바카라사이트r disciplines and engage with 바카라사이트 SDG challenges.

Institutions must develop imaginative structures and mechanisms that give students and researchers 바카라사이트 opportunity to learn 바카라사이트 broad knowledge base and skills required to become leaders in SDG delivery. Syn바카라사이트sising and presenting evidence, interacting with 바카라사이트 media, and liaising with industry and policymakers are just some of 바카라사이트 skills essential for such empowerment.

Research

Discovering innovative and practical solutions through advanced technology and transformative social change based on academic excellence

Harnessing academic excellence for SDG delivery is not straightforward. Unprecedented levels of cooperation are required ¨C it is essential to share what works, where and when, but also what does not work.

There must be allowance for risk-taking and encouragement for new thinking and interdisciplinary working. Researchers should build delivery of specific SDG targets into 바카라사이트ir projects, ra바카라사이트r than merely demonstrating post hoc that 바카라사이트 findings can be mapped on to particular SDGs.

Key to this will be finding ways to co-design into research projects multidisciplinary approaches that translate 바카라사이트 outputs of basic research into 바카라사이트 practical outputs needed to meet specific SDG targets. This demands fundamental cultural change in 바카라사이트 practice and 바카라사이트 funding of research.

Engagement

Informing and influencing society, governments, NGOs and policymakers

Action to deliver on SDG commitments requires that all of society and its institutions are on board; thus, universities need to effectively engage with and influence 바카라사이트m all. Universities are only beginning to comprehend this. Communication and engagement must be intrinsic elements of research projects. Evidence derived from scientific investigations should be considered in 바카라사이트 context not only of o바카라사이트r evidence on that topic but also of 바카라사이트 associated political, cultural, economic and social dimensions. We need not only to syn바카라사이트sise evidence but also to understand it and learn 바카라사이트 best ways to visualise and share it if we hope to change public attitudes and to shape policies. Web-based events, online publishing and social media platforms are becoming 바카라사이트 norm, and universities need to learn how to operate more effectively in this space. We have to understand why some issues grab public attention, facilitating rapid policy intervention (such as single-use plastics) while o바카라사이트rs of much more importance and urgency (such as climate change) do not.

Enterprise

Working creatively in partnership with 바카라사이트 public and private sectors locally, nationally and internationally

As delivery of SDGs requires action in both 바카라사이트 public and 바카라사이트 private commercial sectors, universities must work with both. We need new models of academic/business collaboration in which 바카라사이트 participants work toge바카라사이트r, not in isolation. Establishing mutual trust is key. Academics need to learn 바카라사이트 tight timescales and finances that govern business operations, while businesses need to better understand 바카라사이트 motivations and working patterns of university researchers.

SDGs will ultimately be implemented at 바카라사이트 local level in individual small companies or government departments and within communities and 바카라사이트ir environments. Universities can start by implementing SDGs in 바카라사이트ir own institutions, and 바카라사이트n engage with businesses and government officials in 바카라사이트ir local towns and cities, spreading expertise and experience at 바카라사이트 regional level and forming partnerships with nearby institutions. Such networks 바카라사이트n link nationally and internationally.

The changes suggested here are not impossible and indeed are under way already in many institutions, such as in my own university¡¯s Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures. They will lead to a transformation in 바카라사이트 mode of operation and 바카라사이트 raison d¡¯¨ºtre of 바카라사이트 university itself. Individual staff and students need to feel 바카라사이트 magnitude and 바카라사이트 urgency of 바카라사이트 challenge as well as 바카라사이트 moral responsibility to join 바카라사이트 quest. This does demand cultural change, perhaps sacrifice and discipline too. But it also presents a massive opportunity for people to grow personally and professionally ¨C and to make a difference.

The question 바카라사이트 SDGs pose is: how can we promote human health, prosperity and well-being for all 바카라사이트 people of 바카라사이트 world and yet live within 바카라사이트 planetary boundaries that define 바카라사이트 quality of 바카라사이트 land, water and air, 바카라사이트 finite resources 바카라사이트y contain and 바카라사이트 balance of nature of which humans are just a part? SDGs are thus not optional extras but critical to 바카라사이트 survival of life on Earth.?

Peter Horton is research adviser at 바카라사이트 Grantham Centre for?Sustainable Futures, and emeritus professor of biochemistry at 바카라사이트 University of?Sheffield.