What a pleasure to attend and speak at the 106th Annual Meeting of the Association of American Colleges and Universities on 'Universities and Colleges delivering against the Sustainable Development Goals'. Thank you to all the wonderful participants at my session on Friday 24th January 2020, for your interest, your questions and for all your incredible work in the sector. If you would like a copy of the slide deck, or if I can help in anyway, do please email me at wpurcell@hsph.harvard.edu

The Abstract for the session is given here:

Higher education institutions are 'locally rooted and globally connected' with significant opportunities to deliver against the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Advancing the SDGs is the "moon shot for our generation" (Jeff Sachs, UNSDSN). Universities and colleges must step up and shape new ways for the world; they have a critical role to play as change agents.

The session will explore how the SDGs can be used to catalyze radical adaptive institutional change, engaging faculty, staff, students, alumni and stakeholders around a shared mission. Insights from the US, UK and Europe of SDG-led institutional transformation will reveal some of the challenges and opportunities. And examples of mission-driven outcomes, from changes to the curriculum, research strategy, and leadership/governance, will be shared.

Focusing deliberately and proactively on the SDGs, sustainable transformation within higher education can help deliver a more sustainable and inclusive future.

WENDY PURCELL, PhD FRSA, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health