The workshop on “Sustainable Development Goals and Internationalization: Current challenges and future directions” was held at the Edgbaston Park Hotel on 25 April 2023.
In 2015, the United Nations identified 17 Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) as part of a 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The SDGs have encouraged the development of new disciplinary research and are increasingly used to categorise academic research. At the University of Birmingham, there is on-going SDG related research in all Colleges with a focus on identifying societal challenges and developing technological, behavioural and policy solutions. This workshop brought together academics from across the five colleges to explore the SDGs in the context of internationalisation processes and practices with a focus on exploring the interface between technological and behavioural processes and solutions. The purpose of the event was to make connections with like-minded colleagues across the university to explore potential collaborations and initiatives.
After several fascinating research centre and project presentations from colleagues in geography, engineering, law and the Business School, the roundtable discussions in particular focused on specific themes: Teaching international SDGs from an interdisciplinary perspective; Innovation, technology, entrepreneurship & responsible business; Environment, Sustainability, Regulation & Business. We had some great suggestions emerge from these, including more UoB internal teaching resources around the ground-breaking research being conducted across interdisciplinary research centres, such as the Birmingham Institute for Sustainability and Climate Action (BISCA) and the African Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold Chain (ACES).
The purpose of the event was to make connections across the social and natural sciences to focus on the international dimension of the Sustainable Development Goals, and was generously supported by the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of Birmingham.
