The Global Goals

Right now, the World is working to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (the ‘Global Goals’) by 2030. Back in 2015,193 countries signed up to commit to them. It is a huge undertaking. A range of work is going on in every country, not least in the academic world. Many of the goals can only be achieved with new thinking and innovative collaboration – exactly why academics are such a valuable part of this global task.

The Global Academy – supporting academics

Not all academics though, know where their work fits in, either against achievement of the Global Goals, or with others working in similar fields. This is where we come in. Here at the Global Academy we are doing our bit by launching an important new initiative this year, linking academic research together using the UNSDG framework – ‘Research for the Goals’.

Importantly for researchers and academics, it will also identify where there are academic collaboration opportunities and where there are gaps in research. Take the example of Wesley Loftie-Eaton, currently working in South Africa as part of a global team developing new DNA sequencing technologies. This work has the potential to open the door to our understanding of whole biomes and as such puts the research he is involved as strongly contributing to the achievement of Goals 3 Better Health and Wellbeing (Targets 3.3, 3.4 and 3.B) and 9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure (Target 9.5) as well as potentially Goal 15 ‘Life on Land’.

Helping us to help you

Currently we are underway at the initial stage of finding some friendly academics to help us to effectively ‘beta-test’ our new site – we need feedback on the usability of the platform so that we can continue to improve it. We are inviting researchers to create their own personalised pages. The prototype can be seen here. This early testing is extremely valuable and will help us to move the project forward rapidly.

It’s currently a ‘work in progress’ and we would really value your involvement. We are looking to launch proper in the next couple of months. We are very excited to get it fully up and running and have clear plans in place to make it all happen.

What’s in it for you

As a ‘thank you’ you, like Wesley, will get a ‘Research for the Goals’ page on our site completely free and you will be ‘badged’ as a Research for the Goals ‘Trailblazer’. As the site develops you will be in the first rank to get access to new features.

If you are willing to get involved, it would be great if you could complete the form here and create your own dedicated researcher page. We will share what it looks like with you before it is posted to keep you in control. If you would like to chat to one of us before jumping in, Wendy Stone, our Director, would be delighted to speak with you in person. We also have a former Managing Director in the NHS, Steve Fairman working on this with us.

If, in addition to yourself, you can think of any colleagues who might be interested, please let us know! Hope to hear from you soon.

The Global Academy Team.