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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Roundtable
On April 20, 2020, Penn IUR and Penn Global hosted a virtual faculty roundtable to discuss how faculty are engaging with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their research and curriculums as well as gauging interest in growing a campus-wide SDG network (a forum for faculty doing work related to the SDGs to share and discuss their research). More than twenty faculty members attended the roundtable; a follow-up survey queried a larger group of interested faculty that was unable to attend.
Roundtable highlights included discussion of the many ways SDGs are currently addressed at Penn, such as active faculty participation in UN bodies like UNESCO and multiple-school courses on food security and urbanization framed around the SDGs. Conversations also emphasized the need to broaden student awareness of global agreements and their impacts; the value of the SDGs as a framework for increasing the “voice” and impact of faculty research; and the benefits of an inward-facing SDG network of events, symposia, and research collaborations across schools. Suggestions to address these issues included a 90-second video series for student awareness, a campus-wide SDG assessment, regular communications (such as a newsletter), and increasing Penn’s presence at UN bodies and events.
Penn IUR and Penn Global will continue to convene this group in the Fall 2020 term, with meetings expected to advance the ideas generated at the first meeting and to expand the network of interested faculty.
