Academics from our Social Work team have highlighted ongoing inequality in the United Nations Global Impact Network UK’s Measuring Up 2.0 report launched this week.

In 2015, the UK Government joined many other countries and committed to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Goals provide a holistic framework to eradicate poverty, reduce inequalities, combat catastrophic climate change and protect our natural environment by 2030.

The UN Global Impact Network UK released Measuring Up 2.0 to measure the UK’s performance against the 17 SDGs and their 169 targets, to understand how and where the Government, and other organisations, should focus efforts for the remainder of the Decade of Action.

School of SSESW colleagues Anne Campbell and Lorna Montgomery wrote the Queen’s University contribution to the report. Their chapter on SDG 10 ‘Reduced Inequalities - within and among countries’ highlights the widening inequality gaps and discusses income and wage inequality, poverty, discrimination, and Asylum seekers, refugees and worker migrants. 

Anne said: “SDG 10 focuses on empowering and promoting the social, economic, and political inclusion of all, irrespective of sex, discrimination, race, ethnicity, origin, religion and economic or other status. If achieved, the Goal offers progress on a range of existing inequalities and would be transformative for many individuals in the UK. There has been some, although limited, success in achieving this Goal, although the percentage of people at risk of poverty continues to increase.”

Professor Michael Alcorn, Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Strategic Projects at Queen’s, commented: “The work of Dr Campbell and Dr Montgomery is an excellent example of how Queen’s is engaging in transformative ways with the SDGs and how this work can have a real bearing on current issues of inequality in the UK and in other parts of the world. The University is working rapidly to enhance its engagement with the SDGs in our teaching, research and in the living laboratory which is our campus”.

This is the second phase of Measuring Up, with the first report released in 2018. The chapter on SDG 10 ‘Reduced Inequalities’ is available at UN Global Impact Network UK's Measuring Up 2.0 report.