Western represented at the Australian SDGs Summit

SDGs Twitter feed

The Australian SDGs Summit 2018: ‘Unlocking the opportunities of the SDGs’ was held in Melbourne this week. Ms Jen Dollin, Manager of the Sustainable Futures team, was an invited speaker to represent the Higher Education sector at the high-level multi-stakeholder forum to advance national implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Jen shared the “Western Sydney Matters” video and discussed how education and the SDGs are the drivers of local sustainable development. The session was an overview of how different sectors are embracing the SDGs and what we mean by “beyond business as usual”. Other speakers included:

  • Dr Gillian Sparkes (Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability, Victoria) – Socio-economic indicators for the 2018 State of the Environment report based on the SDGs
  • Susan Mizrahi (Head of Corporate Responsibility, Australia Post) - Leading change through partnerships
  • Sam Loni (Global Coordinator, SDSN Youth)- How SDSN Youth is empowering young people to act on the SDGs in Australia
  • Nicole Bradford (Portfolio Head - Responsible Investment, Cbus Super Fund) - The role of the investment sector in supporting SDG implementation
  • Dermot O’Gorman (CEO, WWF) - Using blockchain to progress the SDGs in the tuna fisheries industry
  • Gary Oliver CEO National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples.

Feedback (Twitter) from the audience included: “Having completed my PhD @westernsydneyu it’s great to learn about how they are implementing the SGDs #AusSDGs and the global learning space on SGD”, Dr Tayanah O’Donnell, ICS alumni and “Great to see universities like @westernsydneyu go beyond business as usual to commit to the SDGs and educate their students on how they can contribute”, SDSN Australia/Pacific

In early 2017 Western Sydney University has become a signatory to the Australia/Pacific Sustainable Development Solutions Network Commitment (SDSN), one of ten Australian and New Zealand Universities. As a signatory the University has a commitment “to provide the educational opportunity for our students to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development.”

Learning Futures.NOW. Issue 4.

-November 2017-