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Sustainable Development Goal 17: Partnership for the Goals

Sustainable Development Goal 17: Partnership for the Goals

Queen’s has a proud history of collaborating to address global societal challenges to create a healthier society and planet. This page details how Queen’s University are achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 17: Partnership for the Goals.

Relationships with regional NGOs and government for SDG Policy

In November 2023, Queen’s University Belfast partnered with Trinity College Dublin and University of Reading on a new €41.3 million research centre. The Climate + Co-Centre directly works with government and a range of NGOs (Community Foundation Ireland and Play Think Brink) as the Co-Centre is the home for research, innovation and policy development across the interlinked challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss and water degradation. 

Cross sectoral dialogues about the SDGs

Cross sectoral dialogue on topics associated with the SDGs takes place with our community, NGOs and local government.

The Agreement 25 Conference took place at Queen’s University in Belfast on April 2023 to mark the 25th anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. Former President of the United States, President Bill Clinton, and the Chancellor of Queen’s University Belfast, Secretary Hillary R. Clinton, were among the global leaders who took part in the conference. A key topic was SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.

In May 2023, the Institute for Global Food Security hosted a one-day conference ‘Save Our Wild Isles’ in partnership with local NGOs RSPB NI and The National Trust. The conference looked at the role of agriculture in the context of nature and the climate crises – focusing specifically on SDG 14 Life on Land.

UrbanArk is a joint research project under the US-Ireland Research and Development Programme. The UrbanArk project aims to improve the resilience and emergency preparedness of urban centres and their communities to the threat of coastal flooding. UrbanArk has partnered with local authorities and governmental agencies to address coastal flood risk assessment and communication in the context of three US and Irish study areas: New York, Belfast, and Dublin. In 2023 they published an article on the impact of underground structures has on flood risk.

International collaboration data gathering for SDGs

Since 2023, the RUMEN Gateway Project has been led by Queen’s University Belfast – involving 24 institutions and universities worldwide. The project will explore the microbial world within rumen, a complex and little-studied ecosystem in livestock. International data gathering on the microbial make-up of rumen across 24 countries, including the global south, will enhance the scientific understanding of rumen, which is a characteristic feature in cows, which is crucial for speeding up solutions to reduce livestock methane emissions.

Collaboration for SDG best practice

In 2023-2024, Queen's University Belfast hosted the inaugural international Reach '24 Art and Sustainability Festival. Established in collaboration with Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Ireland, the festival showcased a range of projects, practice-based work and community engagement projects from across Ireland. The festival programme featured art exhibitions, film screenings, workshops and talks on policy, practice and community engagement in the arts and sustainability.

Reach '24 has been recognised by academics and organisations across the globe as an exemplar project of how to engage individuals within multiple sectors on sustainability via the arts.

Collaboration with NGOs for SDGs

Queen’s University students volunteer with Fighting Words NI, a local NGO, who helps local primary school children create their own stories. Launched in 2023, the ongoing project, hosted by the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s, trains student volunteers to work together with the children in workshops, helping them express their creativity through story making. This project links directly with SDG 4 Quality Education.

A research programme which has collaborated with a NGO for the SDGs includes a report that has been completed by The Centre for Sustainability, Equality and Climate Action with local NGO ‘Love our Lough’. Academics researched the emotional impact of the algae crises on people living in and around Lough Neagh between 2023-2024.

In early 2024, Queen’s University Geography School, in collaboration with the Belfast Branch of the Geographical Association, created a range of educational resources on a number of different sustainability topics to support a range of geography GCSE, AS and A2 classes. 

Education for SDGs

The University is a signatory to the UN Accord which recognises the key role that global universities have in nurturing a culture of sustainability and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 through research and education. As a result, sustainability is being integrated across our full curriculum. Through engaging all students via mandatory inductions, and via optional educational opportunities (Carbon Literacy Training) students are informed about the Sustainable Development Goals, alongside the climate and biodiversity crises we are facing.

We also have dedicated outreach educational activities for the wider community, including alumni, local residents and displaced people/refugees.

In November 2023, the University hosted their annual Alumni Convocation which delved into the world of sustainability and explored ways to give back to our future. The event shared insights and experiences on what Queen’s University and the wider Belfast area is doing to achieve the UN SDGs.

Since 2023 the University has been completing outreach educational activities with Morgan Mattingly, a MSCA Doctoral Fellow at Queen’s University. Morgan has partnered with ANAKA Women’s Collective to support and advocate for equitable access to education for young people from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds. Through participatory action research, Morgan engages with young people to find solutions to educational needs and advocate for change within the 16+ Educational Equality campaign.

The University has dedicated outreach educational activities for the wider community via their ‘Sustainability Talks and Conversations’ campaign. The campaign includes hosting a series of free events on a range of sustainability topics, including sustainable construction, sustainable art, travel waste and politics. Events are open to staff, students and our local community with over 1,000 individuals attending a range of events throughout 2023.

The university measures their students’ ability to learn and retain key concepts of sustainability. Pre-and-post surveys are undertaken by students before, and after, completing Carbon Literacy Training. A total of 604 students undertook the survey. When asked, ‘How would you rate your level of knowledge about climate change now that you have completed the course?’, those who ranked their level as ‘high’ or ‘very high’ went from 23% to 94%.