Awarded Research Grants as a Pathway to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Abstract

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of global goals that provide an agenda for sustainable growth and development across all sectors and disciplines. However, the contribution of academic institutions from the developing world towards the SDGs has not received adequate attention from the scientific community. A review of all the awarded grants in 2022 and 2023 at an international academic institution was conducted. The objectives outlined in the grant proposals were used to map the SDGs accordingly. A quantitative frequency analysis was conducted to tabulate the results. A total of 293 grants obtained in 2022 and 2023 were included in our study. The mapping revealed a predominantly health-related focus with SDG3 (80.9%, n=237) as the most commonly covered goal, followed by achieving gender equality (SDG5, 11.6%, n=34), promoting education (SDG4, 10.9%, n=32), and ending hunger (SDG2, 10.6%, n=31). This aligns with the institution’s original focus on the health sciences, with further expansion focusing on the social sciences, identifying both mandates as critical areas of need in the developing country context. A mean of 2.0 SDGs per grant, with 46% of grants covering more than one SDG. We report contributions from an academic institution’s research portfolio towards the SDGs, assess current trends, and identify future areas of focus. We highlight the importance of developing an SDG monitoring and evaluation framework for universities and present an actionable solution for institutions to track their progress towards achieving the SDGs. We also stress the importance of contextualising focus and prioritising goals in line with institutionally relevant aims.