Orienting National and International Research to the SDGs (original) (raw)

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a groundbreaking attempt at coordinating international collaboration in pursuit of specified and agreed ideals for a 15year period from 2015. Presented as ambitious goals and targets, divergences in cultural interpretations and priorities are accommodated as nations and institutions adapt the goals for their own strategies. Conceiving the SDGs in this embracing manner avoids many of the less important criticisms of the UN's approach and allows a global vision of progress at this halfway point towards 2030. Progress is evident despite the inevitable setbacks of unforeseen circumstances that have included pandemics, wars and major policy changes. This keynote lecture discusses these matters by introducing the SDGs in general, by discussing general critiques of the UN approach, and by briefly citing an example of SDG implementation at each of national, regional and international levels.