UniSus: The role of universities in sustainable development. Collaboration, academic freedom and cross-sectoral contributions

Main purpose of the project “UniSus: The role of universities in sustainable development.

Collaboration, academic freedom...” is to establish a vibrant research network of scholars in Budapest, Warsaw, Berlin and Stockholm interested in how universities can contribute to sustainable development with a specific focus on collaboration, academic freedom and cross-sectoral contributions (CAC).

United Nations (UN) 17 sustainable development goals are widely accepted to be an all-embracing policy frame for grand societal challenges. Universities are increasingly invited to contribute to necessary sustainability transformation in and of society.

As the UN goal of “Partnerships for the goals” stipulate: relational, transdisciplinary and collaborative practices is paramount to addressing grand challenges and is thus an inherent basis for the project.

Understanding the role of universities in this in Budapest and in Warsaw is especially timely for advancing state-of-the-art research in sustainable development and collaboration in Central and Eastern Europe in times when democracies are cropped.

Three workshops in Budapest, Warsaw and Berlin, with one online workshop before and after, are main activities of the project.

Expected outcomes: (i) a set of empirically identified barriers to CAC and potential activities to overcome them, (ii) a literature study of relevant emerging research, and (iii) identified research questions for a project application to the Foundation at a later stage