TY - JOUR

T1 - It’s a Hit! Mapping Austrian Research Contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals

AU - Körfgen, Annemarie

AU - Förster, Klaus

AU - Glatz, Ingomar

AU - Maier, Stephan

AU - Becsi, Benedikt

AU - Meyer, Anna

AU - Kromp-Kolb, Helga

AU - Stötter, Johann

PY - 2018/9/14

Y1 - 2018/9/14

N2 - The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) present a global agenda addressing social, economic, and environmental challenges in a holistic approach. Universities can contribute to the implementation of the SDGs by providing know-how and best-practice examples to support implementation and by integrating issues of sustainability into their operations, research, education, and science-society interactions. In most of the signatory countries of the Agenda 2030, an overview of the extent to which universities have already addressed the SDGs in research is not available. Using the example of universities in Austria, this study presents a tool to map research that addresses sustainability topics as defined by the SDGs. The results of an analysis of scientific projects and publications show current focus areas of SDG related research. Research on SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being) and SDG 4 (Quality Education) is well represented by universities in Austria, while other SDGs, such as SDG 1 (No Poverty) or SDG 14 (Life Below Water), are under-represented research fields. We anticipate the results will support universities in identifying the thematic orientation of their research in the framework of the SDGs. This information can facilitate inter-university cooperation to address the challenge of implementing the SDGs.

AB - The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) present a global agenda addressing social, economic, and environmental challenges in a holistic approach. Universities can contribute to the implementation of the SDGs by providing know-how and best-practice examples to support implementation and by integrating issues of sustainability into their operations, research, education, and science-society interactions. In most of the signatory countries of the Agenda 2030, an overview of the extent to which universities have already addressed the SDGs in research is not available. Using the example of universities in Austria, this study presents a tool to map research that addresses sustainability topics as defined by the SDGs. The results of an analysis of scientific projects and publications show current focus areas of SDG related research. Research on SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being) and SDG 4 (Quality Education) is well represented by universities in Austria, while other SDGs, such as SDG 1 (No Poverty) or SDG 14 (Life Below Water), are under-represented research fields. We anticipate the results will support universities in identifying the thematic orientation of their research in the framework of the SDGs. This information can facilitate inter-university cooperation to address the challenge of implementing the SDGs.

KW - SDGs; agenda 2030; higher education; responsible science; grand challenges; keyword search; research database; interdisciplinarity; university cooperation; sustainable development goals and universities

UR - http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/9/3295/htm

U2 - 10.3390/su10093295

DO - 10.3390/su10093295

M3 - Article

VL - 10

SP - 1

EP - 13

JO - Sustainability / Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI)

JF - Sustainability / Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI)

SN - 2071-1050

IS - 9

ER -