The BOKU University for Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, together with the University of Hamburg and the University of Zurich, organised a workshop on "Universities and Sustainable Development Goals", which was supported by a CA Micro Fund. It took place on 11 September 2019 as part of the Pre-Conference of the SBE19 (Sustainable Built Environment D-A-CH Conference 2019) at the Graz University of Technology, Austria.
The workshop included presentations about the Austrian UniNEtZ project, the German HochN & LENA-initiatives and SDG-related activities of the University of Zurich. After these inputs, the participants had the opportunity to write down comments on four different topics:
- Feedback on the projects UniNEtZ and HochN
- Ideas for cooperation between SDG-related university projects and the society
- General support of universities to achieve the SDGs
- International cooperation between universities in regard to the SDGs
In the following discussion the participants stressed the importance of cooperation between the projects, for example in form of joined projects. It was agreed, that a common language is very important not only to make communication easier between the universities, but also to communicate better with the society and non-experts. The most important outcome was, that universities should act as role models relating to the SDGs and also try to raise awareness and knowledge about them.