Research Impact*: How Universities Implement It

*Impact is defined by SDG: United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals

University research is one of the few sectors that can support, promote, and contribute to achieving all of the 17 SDGs. To accomplish that, researchers need to collaborate with other researchers of different disciplines on SDG perspective discoveries

Despite the inclusion of impact goals in funding criteria and the advent of THE Impact Rankings for universities, both researchers and research planners struggle to create an executable research strategy at the institutional level in alignment with SDGs

COVID-19 has exposed the urgency of a concerted research effort to combat social issues, and embedding SDGs within research will promote interdisciplinary collaboration between researchers within the university and around the world

Challenges & Approaches

SDG Strengths & Awareness

Digital Science reports that just 10% of global research output in the past 20 years relates to the SDGs

Some universities have taken the first step by creating a SDG center to undertake projects focused on research, teaching, and governance. Some universities are making SDG as a required element of every postgraduate program

The most challenging part is researchers need to learn how to align their work with SDG shifting from the conventional subject categories for publishing

Collaboration Opportunities

“Impact” is an admittedly vague term for most funders in Asia. Some funders will have their metrics; others will utilize the stated goals or mission statements on their websites

Though not easy to achieve, the university needs to take leadership in developing an SDG research strategy to foster interdisciplinary collaboration opportunities right from within the university

Measuring & Reporting

SDG profile of each university will help to identify the relationship between citation and visibility of the past research publication. Such insight will facilitate strategic research planning through the lens of SDGs

Unlike research publications, impact reporting based on SDG will also strengthen the branding of the university concerning social responsibility

A guide of SDG Impact Planning for the university

Examples are based on the analysis of University of Hong Kong

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