The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development , adopted by all United Nations Member in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its core are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) , which are an urgent call for action by all countries in all global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go together with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth, while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.
The SDGs build on over decades of work by countries and the UN including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) , the World Summit on Sustainable Development , the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, and many others.
In December 2020, the University of Toronto hosted two Institutional Strategic Initiatives (ISI) workshop to discuss actions to advance SDG related research at the University. Over 120 workshop participants from all three campuses and over 25 disciplines actively participated. Based on the engagement and enthusiasm received, the SDGs @ U of T initiative was created as an Institutional Strategic Initiative (ISI)  to catalyze research on sustainable development at the University.
The SDGs@UofT aims to:
Build on existing research initiatives
Form new interdisciplinary and global partnerships
Produce a map for advancing the UN SDGs @ U of T.
Our Vision
Position U of T as an eminent community of scholars and practitioners leading transformative, transdisciplinary research that empowers positive actions on the SDGs and informs future global goals for an equitable and sustainable future.
Our Mission
Mobilize and consolidate SDG-related expertise, scholarship, and practice at U of T into a global powerhouse of knowledge that enhances learning, catalyzes equitable action, and facilitates inclusive outcomes through a strong, innovative, multi-sectoral research network of faculty, trainees, and partners.
Objectives
The objectives of the SDGs@UofT initiative are to:
- Design organizational structures that foster research collaborations and actions on the SDGs@UofT
- Conduct research that reflects epistemological and methodological diversity to create the evidence needed to advance the SDGs and inform future global goals.
- Empower trainees to engage in SDG related research.
- Build sustainable collaborations and partnerships both locally and globally to catalyze transformative research and training on the SDGs.
- Mobilize knowledge to maximize the societal impacts of SDG research.