Accelerating SDG Practice Initiative

SDSN AusNZPac and the Australasian Campuses Towards Sustainability (ACTS) are pleased to present Accelerating SDG Practice, a series of public and member-only online forums aiming to help our member institutions accelerate and scale up action on the SDGs.

• 2 May, 27 June, 13 August & 8 October 2024: SDSN/ACTS Mainstreaming education for SDGs Group [part of Education for SDGs Sessions]
• 6 May 2023: SDSN AusNZPac/ACTS Member Discussion: SDG reporting in Higher Education
• 8, 15 & 22 November 2022: SDSN/ACTS/PRME open webinar series: Mainstreaming education for the SDGs in higher Ed [part of Education for SDGs Sessions]
• 22 June 2022: Open workshop: The SDGs: Making an imperfect framework work for higher education
• 7 June 2022: SDSN AusNZPac member forum: Advancing research for the SDGs and societal challenges
• 5 April 2022: Open workshop: Sharing good practice in ESD in Australia and the Pacific – a stocktake [part of Education for SDGs Sessions]
• 23 March 2022: Member discussion: Making the most of the THE Impact Rankings
• 22-24 February 2022: SDSN/ACTS/PRME 2nd regional forum: Mainstreaming education for the SDGs in Higher Education [part of Education for SDGs Sessions]
• 21 July 2021: Open webinar: University SDG Reports: What is (current) best practice?
• 9 & 10 February 2021: SDSN/ACTS/PRME Regional workshop: Accelerating education for the SDGs across our higher education institutions [part of Education for SDGs Sessions]
• 30 July 2020: Open webinar: University SDG leadership from Down Under
• 28 April 2020: Member forum: Covid-19 – What does it mean for SDGs and universities?
• 11 March 2020: Open webinar: Engaging students with the SDGs
• 11 February 2020: Member forum: Engaging staff with the SDGs
• 27 August 2019: Member forum: Engaging students with the SDGs
• 21 May 2019: Member forum: Reflections on the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings
• 10 April 2019: Member forum: SDG mapping update

Universities, higher education institutions, and knowledge institutions have a critical and unique role in helping achieve the SDGs through their teaching, research and operational practices. To help fulfil this critical role, there is an urgent need for the sector to accelerate and scale up action on the SDGs.

In 2017, SDSN AusNZPac and ACTS worked together with institutions in our region to publish Getting Started with the SDGs in Universities, a definitive guide to how the sector can implement the SDGs with examples of what was (at the time) best practice. Since then, many SDSN AusNZPac and ACTS member institutions have greatly increased their sophistication of working with the SDGs across different areas, and their experience with what works and what doesn’t. Other institutions are just starting their SDG journeys.

The aim of this forum series is to help lift the collective response of the sector in our region to the SDGs by providing a space for our member institutions to share and discuss approaches, challenges and learnings about SDG implementation. The forums will also look for opportunities for follow up collaborations and for how we can share learnings with the broader community.

Each forum will focus on a different topic relating to SDG implementation at universities. We invite members to propose ideas for future forums.

The forums will take place via online videoconference, and are open to any staff at SDSN AusNZPac and ACTS member institutions who have an active interest in the areas relating to the forum topic. As this is a discussion forum (not a webinar), we strongly encourage all participants to take an active part in the conversation. Application for the forums will be through an EOI process, to helps us design the session to ensure it responds to participants’ interests and experience. Depending on technological limitations we may also need to cap the number of participants.

We invite SDSN AusNZPac and ACTS members to submit ideas for topics that would be of interest to them for future forums.

If you have any questions about the Accelerating SDG Practice forum series, contact Tahl Kestin at SDSN AusNZPac (tahl.kestin@monash.edu) or Rhiannon Boyd at ACTS (r.boyd@acts.asn.au)