January 31, 2025

Spark 1 | Sustainable Development Goals at YERUN

This year, YERUN celebrates its 10th anniversary. To mark this milestone, each month we focus on a theme that has strengthened the network and showcases its achievements over the past decade.

For January, we highlight YERUN’s work in advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Central to YERUN’s mission is its commitment to aligning its activities with the SDGs, ensuring that universities act not only as hubs of knowledge but also as drivers of transformative change toward a more sustainable and equitable world.

YERUN’s members have embraced their role as agents of change. They recognise the vital contribution higher education institutions make in fostering sustainable and resilient societies. Through the YERUN Group on SDGs, our universities have worked collaboratively to integrate sustainability into both curricular and extracurricular activities. This collaboration demonstrates YERUN’s commitment to making sustainability a core principle of European higher education and research.

Beyond academia, YERUN members are embedding sustainability into their institutional strategies. Many have implemented initiatives to improve the sustainability of campus operations, such as enhancing building efficiency, improving transport options, and offering sustainable food choices in cafeterias. These actions illustrate how universities can turn ideas into tangible impacts, showing that the SDGs extend far beyond classroom learning into daily operations and community practices.

The YERUN Group on SDGs has identified six key messages to guide policymakers and institutions in effectively integrating sustainability:

  • Sustainability must encompass environmental, social, and economic dimensions. 
  • Leadership and vision from both political and academic spheres are crucial for success. 
  • Interdisciplinary collaboration and project-based learning are instrumental in addressing real-world sustainability challenges. 
  • Engaging students and academic communities is key to fostering ownership and driving meaningful change. 
  • International cooperation ensures a global perspective in sustainability efforts. 
  • Universities require expertise, training, and adequate funding to adapt academic curricula and support community initiatives effectively. 

By embracing these principles, YERUN and its member universities continue to lead by example, demonstrating the indispensable role of young universities in driving sustainable development.

YERUN Paper: Education for a more sustainable world: what can we learn from young European research universities?

YERUN’s paper on the Sustainable Development Goals, published in 2022, showcases how our research universities advance education on and for sustainability through both curricular and extracurricular initiatives.

Highlighting the essential role of higher education institutions in shaping sustainable and resilient societies, the paper aligns with the European Strategy for Universities and the Council Recommendation on Learning for Environmental Sustainability, both adopted in January 2022. These policies recognise the growing importance of integrating sustainability into higher education and the need for systemic approaches to learning for environmental sustainability.
YERUN’s paper draws attention to the innovative practices of its member universities, emphasising how sustainability is enshrined at the core of their work, as outlined in the YERUN Strategy 2021-2025 under the focus area “Responsible and Engaged Universities.” By fostering collaboration and sharing best practices, the network has actively supported the green transition and the implementation of the SDGs in university life. It also provides practical policy recommendations to bridge local realities with broader EU guidance, empowering universities to better prepare the leaders of tomorrow. Through this work, YERUN continues to champion the role of higher education institutions as transformative agents for a sustainable future.

Sustainability through collaboration: UL, YERUN, and the SDGs

This article, spotlighting Andrea Deverell, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Futures and Innovation, explores how universities can drive real change by integrating sustainability into education, supporting student-led initiatives, and collaborating through YERUN’s network.

Empowering students and advancing research are at the heart of UL’s sustainability approach. Initiatives like the Student Sustainability Challenge and the Engaged Research Design for Sustainability programme show how innovation and collaboration can drive real change.

Engaged Research Design for Sustainability Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) at the University of Limerick (UL)

BIP participants at the UL in January 2025
In January 2025, YERUN, in collaboration with the University of Limerick, launched the Engaged Research Design for Sustainability Blended Intensive Programme which has been developed in the context of YERUN’s Group on Sustainable Development Goals.

This innovative winter school brought together 27 early-stage doctoral researchers from YERUN universities across Europe for an immersive week of interdisciplinary workshops, expert-led discussions, and field visits. Hosted by UL’s Centre for Sustainable Futures and Innovation and supported by Erasmus+, the programme combined residential and online components, empowering participants to apply the SDGs to their research and local contexts. Highlights included place-based learning activities, such as visits to sustainability-focused sites like the Southill Community Hub and Cloughjordan Ecovillage. The programme exemplifies YERUN’s commitment to fostering collaboration and equipping the next generation of researchers to tackle global sustainability challenges.

PHD students at UL for the Engaged Research Design Sustainability programme


YERUN Roundup – a Collection of Achievements from YERUN members on SDGs

In our monthly newsletter, YERUN highlights the work and achievements of our members in advancing the SDGs within academia and beyond. Below, you will find a collection of five newsletters dedicated to showcasing our members’ best practices on the SDGs.


Other good practices at HEIs

Showcasing trends and good practices of other university networks is essential to fostering collaboration and advancing shared objectives related to the Sustainable Development Goals.

As highlighted in LERU’s 2024 paper on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), universities play a transformative role in equipping students with the skills, competencies, and ethical understanding needed to navigate complex challenges and drive meaningful change.

Through learning from diverse local realities and sharing experiences across institutions, universities can develop strategies that are both globally informed and locally relevant. This collaborative approach ensures that the SDGs are embedded not only in research and education but also in campus management, lifelong learning, and staff development, fostering a culture of sustainability at every level.

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