As part of the University’s Aberdeen 2040 focus on sustainability, we pledged to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our annual SDG Reports are now a staple part of how we articulate the positive impacts of our research, education and operational activities. This year’s report showcases activity from across the University and, with more stories than ever, there’s something for everyone, with the work of staff and students from a range of academic Schools and Professional Service Directorates featured.
The SDGs provide a global framework against which international efforts to tackle environmental and societal challenges can be gauged. The problems the SDGs represent remain wickedly complex – but students and staff from across the University are playing their part in tackling all 17 global goals.
The report takes the opportunity to showcase the work of our student body. The Student Union’s portfolio of climate friendly transport and reuse projects features alongside its work on gender and racial equality. We also take a moment to focus on the international exploits of some of our individual students, from those making a splash on the international Paralympic stage, to Law students excelling in international competition.
Research is prominent in the report. Medical and diagnostic advances at the cutting edge of public health sit alongside research into the skills, techniques and community responses required to ensure a just energy transition. Other themes include research into species habitats and the very understanding of biodiversity itself, as well as projects to tackle the scarcity of natural resources and rare earth elements, and even the recycling of valuable compounds from the whisky-making process.
The report also highlights an array of operational and administrative initiatives – from sector leading emissions reporting developments, to tackling gender-based violence, and our landmark work on our legacies of slavery – which all contribute in some way to the SDGs.
This is our fourth year of reporting in this way and these reports serve as annual reminders of the breadth of activity our community is involved in that seeks to improve the world as we find it.
We are delighted to share this year’s report with you here.
Professor Karl Leydecker (Senior Vice-Principal)
Mr Fraser Lovie (Head of Sustainability)