
This year’s report shows the growing global role of the SDSN, the world’s leading network of knowledge institutions, and the expansion of the program to 50 national, regional, and thematic networks.
Sustainable Development Solutions Network UK
Enabling a knowledge-based transition to a just and sustainable society

This year’s report shows the growing global role of the SDSN, the world’s leading network of knowledge institutions, and the expansion of the program to 50 national, regional, and thematic networks.

SDSN UK is very proud to have contributed to the Measuring Up 2.0 report, a fresh review of the UK’s performance against the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their associated targets. This was released on 28 September 2022 by the UN Global Compact Network UK.
At the Rio+20 Summit a decade ago, the UN member states launched a process to develop a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to put the world on the path to sustainable development that combines economic wellbeing, social justice, and environmental sustainability. We are now in the midst of the great global effort to create a global path to sustainable development that “leaves no one behind.”
SDSN UK was delighted to convene earlier this month a panel discussion on the latest Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings.
We are very thankful to our panellists Duncan Ross, Laura Tucker, Dr Tracy Morse and Prof Philip McGowan, and all participants for such a rich and insightful conversation on how the THE Impact Rankings can enable universities to measure and reflect on their impact against the UN SDGs.
In case you missed it, you can find below the link to the event recording 👇
Read here our most recent blog exploring the UK government’s commitment to the SDGs. This blog is a contribution from one of IIPP’s Master of Public Administration (MPA) students.
7th July 2022, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM BST
SDSN UK, hosted by UCL IIPP, is organising a hybrid interactive panel discussion to explore questions and key learnings in relation to how the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings submissions can enable universities to measure and reflect on their impact against the SDGs.
Find out more and register here.

At the end of January 2022, IIPP launched the Sustainable Development Solutions Network’s UK (SDSN UK), a network comprised of research-intensive Higher Education Institutions mobilised around practical solutions to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
We have had the pleasure to interview Prof. Carole Parkes, Emerita Professor at Winchester University, one of the SDSN UK member institutions. Prof. Parkes has both a business and an academic background with vast experience in Management, Special Issues, such as Inequality and Poverty, and the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She believes that the time to act is now, and we must collaborate within universities and beyond.

The Sustainable Development Report (SDR), including the SDG Index and Dashboards which track progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), was released last week. The report shows that multiple and simultaneous international crises have halted progress on the universal goals adopted by all UN member countries during the historic 2015 summit.
“Fifty years after the first UN Conference on the human environment in Stockholm in 1972, the bedrock SDG principles of social inclusion, clean energy, responsible consumption, and universal access to public services are needed more than ever to respond to the major challenges of our time. Poor and vulnerable countries are being hit particularly hard by multiple health, geopolitical and climate crises and their spillovers. To restore and accelerate SDG progress, we need global cooperation to end the pandemic, negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, and secure the financing needed to achieve the SDGs,” says Prof. Jeffrey D. Sachs, President of the SDSN and first author of the report.
Continue reading “Global Plan to Finance the UN Sustainable DevelopmentGoals Urgently Needed Says New SDSN Report”The Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings 2022 have now been published. SDSN UK members, Newcastle University and the University of Manchester, both achieved strong performances in this year’s impact rankings. Newcastle University is the highest ranked UK institution in eighth place, followed by the University of Manchester in ninth. Overall, the UK has the most universities in the top 100, with 20 HEIs. You can browse and find out more about the latest Impact Results here.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the World Happiness Report, which uses global survey data to report on how people evaluate their own lives in more than 150 countries around the world. Read the 2022 World Happiness Report here.