Panellist: Lesley Stone (Manager of Sustainability and Environment | Toitū te Taiao at The University of Auckland) and Dr Renzo Mori Jr (Senior Advisor for Sustainable Development at RMIT University)

Universities in New Zealand and Australia have recently come into world attention for dominating the 2020 SDG-based Times Higher Education Impact Rankings. While there are many factors that have influenced this success, one of them is the long-standing engagement of universities in this region with the SDGs as a tool for deepening their contributions to solving the greatest challenges of our time.

In this webinar, we are pleased to have the opportunity to hear from two leading institutions in this endeavour: We will be joined by Dr Lesley Stone (Manager of Sustainability and Environment | Toitū te Taiao at The University of Auckland) and Dr Renzo Mori Jr (Senior Advisor for Sustainable Development at RMIT University), who will share with us the comprehensive, whole-of-university approaches they have taken with the SDGs in their institutions and their learnings on the benefits and challenges of working with the SDGs.

The discussion will touch on a range of topics, including:

• How to engage and mobilise researchers, educators, students, university leadership, and other university staff, as well as the broader community, on the SDGs
• Central SDG governance and coordination structures
• SDG mapping and reporting
• What other sectors and organisations can learn from what universities are doing

This webinar is presented by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Australia, NZ & Pacific and the Australasian Campuses Towards Sustainability (ACTS) as part of the Accelerating SDG Practice series. The series aims to scale up action on the SDGs in universities, higher education institutions and knowledge institutions by sharing best practice examples, reflecting on the benefits and challenges of the SDGs, and collaborating on problem-solving.

The webinar is also contributing SDSN AusNZPac’s SDGs in Action initiative, which highlights best practice examples across sectors of how the SDGs framework can be used as a tool for change.