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Principle, policy & practice
The Higher Education Sustainability Initiative (HESI) called for a multi-stakeholder working group of sustainability experts, practitioners, and academic leaders to help align education and research with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in principle, policy and practice.
When representatives from academia and publishing joined to answer this call and to support the SDG Publishers Compact, the Fellows convened to create four workstreams to tackle our mission.
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First steps
As a union of publishers, researchers and data providers, we first tasked ourselves with providing concrete recommendations, tips and guidelines for those in higher education that are taking their first and next steps towards sustainability.
We have collected the top recommendations for putting sustainability on the educational and research agenda, collectively referred to as the Top Action Tips documents.
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Equity
Top action tips for promoting equity in research and publishing: for collaborative use by researchers, publishers, editors, funders and higher education institutions.
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Academic publishers, editors & reviewers
The academic publishing community must create the systems through which research and education can drive global achievement of the SDGs.
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Graduate students & researchers
The new generations of researchers, beginning their careers in a time of change and action, must integrate sustainability into the agenda of future scholarship.
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Academic authors
Authors must actively choose to create the knowledge humankind needs to fuel growth that is sustainable and make change that is positive.
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Academic librarians
Libraries must ensure that the knowledge required to achieve the SDGs can be recognized, discovered and made available to those who will build upon it and put it into action.
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Connecting researchers & practitioners
Research alone will not make the SDGs reality. Each member of scholarly community must work to put research in the hands of practitioners.
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Driving sustainability-literacy in educational materials
To grow a world where sustainability-literacy the norm, our textbooks and other educational materials must truly integrate sustainability concepts.
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Communicating Implications: Policymakers, Journalists & the Public
To drive real world change, the practical implications of SDG related research must be accessible to policymakers, journalists and the public.
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Communicating Implications: Professionals & Practitioners
To drive real world change, the practical implications of SDG related research must be accessible to professionals and practitioners.
Workstreams
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Academic Societies & Textbooks
How can publishers identify and improve SDG-related content in their educational materials?
What should qualify as SDG-related content?
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Connecting Researchers & Practitioners
How can we improve communication between researchers and practitioners?
How can we put research in the hands of practitioners?
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Impact & Reach
How should we incentivize and quantify positive SDG behavior in research?
Can we identify positive SDG behavior when we see it? At scale?
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Changing Culture
What do stakeholders need in order to make focusing on SDGs a priority?
How can we use extant and future successes to accelerate change?