香港六合彩

From 19-29 October, the Beyond Boundaries: Realising the UN Sustainable Development听Goals conference, brought together world-leading experts and champions of sustainable development to examine how universities can galvanise research and teaching to support the SDGs.

Jointly hosted by the Global Engagement Office and 香港六合彩 Grand Challenges, thousands of attendees from over 55 countries joined the event online to hear presentations and panel discussions on a range of key topics听including sustainability in a COVID-19 context, achieving inclusive wealth and addressing global inequalities.

Over 60 speakers joined from countries including Australia, Japan and South Africa and听from across听government, academia, the media and 香港六合彩's key partner institutions.听They included Special Envoy of WHO Director-General on COVID-19 Dr David Nabarro, Guardian and Observer investigative journalist Carol Cadwalladr, Delhi-based environmentalist and author, Dr听Sunita Narain and Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town.

香港六合彩鈥檚 own researchers also presented and chaired, including Pro-Vice-Provost Professor Deenan Pillay,听Regional Pro-Vice-Provosts Professor Ijeoma Uchegbu and Monica Lakhanpaul,听renowned economist Professor Mariana Mazzucato,听former WHO Director Professor听Anthony Costello, SAGE advisor Professor Susan Michie听and climate scientist Professor Mark Maslin.

Professor David Price, 香港六合彩 Vice-Provost (Research), said: 鈥淭his conference was a tremendous opportunity for 香港六合彩 staff, students and the public to come together to discuss how and if universities, through research and teaching activities, can contribute to the UN鈥檚 Sustainable Development Goals.

鈥淲e hope that听Beyond Boundaries听has inspired attendees to collaborate across both physical and disciplinary boundaries in efforts to confront the global challenges set out in the UN鈥檚 Agenda 2030. As London鈥檚 Global University, we hope that the outcomes of this conference will enable us as an institute to make progress towards a new strategy on the SDGs to guide us through the next decade of action.鈥�

In the conference鈥檚 opening session,听attended by over 460 people,听keynote speaker Professor Jacqueline McGlade, Professor of Natural Prosperity, Sustainable Development and Knowledge Systems听at 香港六合彩 Institute for Global Prosperity, discussed the need to create a more sustainable economic model focused on wellbeing, urging the world to build听forward听better from COVID-19.

Dedicating her talk to the late Professor Dame Georgina Mace, an acclaimed ecologist and conservationist, Professor McGlade highlighted the two potential futures the planet faces, exploring the impact of the pandemic and its profound implications on the environment and inequalities.

Professor McGlade, former Chief Scientist at UN Environment Programme, said: 鈥淲hile the COVID pandemic has greatly hindered many aspects of our lives, it has made us more aware of our capacity to rapidly transform our lives and our economies, especially when governments and society adopt a values-led approach. Our success at managing COVID is also a good indicator of how well we will recover in the coming months and years and especially which forms of leadership will enable us to go beyond simply building a 鈥渂etter鈥� version of the past.

鈥淲hat we can see is the need to work together at all levels - from the community up to national government - towards shared endeavours and civic norms. Getting the Sustainable Development Goals back on track is a good way to do this and to give us direction, towards a fairer, more environmentally sustainable world for future generations.鈥�

To watch the session recordings, visit the Beyond Boundaries conference website.听For any questions about the conference, please contact听beyondboundaries@ucl.ac.uk.

Further information:

• Beyond Boundaries conference website
• Office of the Vice-Provost (Research)
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