Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals

SDG reporting

During the year we published several reports highlighting our sustainability progress, including our Annual Environment Report; SDG Accord report; and Sustainability in Action: United Nations Principles of Responsible Management Education.

In 2023, Cranfield was ranked within the global top 40 in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings for activities to support critical UN Sustainable Development Goal 17 – Partnerships for the Goals.

Cranfield was ranked in the top 15% of universities globally, and in the top 20% in Europe, for its overall sustainability efforts in the QS World University Rankings: Sustainability 2024. Cranfield was also placed in the top 5% globally for the environmental impact of its research environment.

Collaborating

During 2023, Cranfield participated in a collaborative project led by AdvanceHE: Aligning organisational strategy to SDGs which involved sharing expertise and best practice across eight universities and led to development of a draft action plan for education. You can find out more on the AdvanceHE website.

Partnerships

Our global academic partnerships and strategic industry partnerships are important to us. In 2022/23 our School of Management partnered with leading European business school ESCP (École Supérieure de Commerce de Paris) to offer its MBA students an invaluable international experience. We secured Academic Partner status with the Institute of Cyber Digital Investigation Professionals (ICDIP). Dassault Systèmes partnered with Cranfield to launch the first 3DEXPERIENCE Edu Centre of Excellence for the aerospace industry in the UK. The centre will help to accelerate digital and sustainable transformation of the industry. We also secured several new Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, including one with Nissan Technical Centre Europe (NTCE) to develop connectivity for battery electric vehicles.

Working with governments

We work with NGOs and governments around the world to help develop SDG-related policies. In 2023 we we became a key academic signatory to a new strategy detailing how military aviation will contribute to the Government’s Net Zero 50 goal.

As part of a consortium of UK universities, Cranfield, alongside the governments of the UK and Rwanda, the University of Rwanda, and the UN, continue to collaborate on the Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold Chain (ACES).

Many of the projects funded by the Sue White Fund for Africa involve governments and NGOs worldwide.

Strategic dialogue

Our cross-sectoral dialogue supporting the SDGs in 2023 has included the development and launch of the Global Sustainable Aviation Exchange (GSAE) at a ceremony co-hosted by Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi and Cranfield University.

The Constructing a Digital Environment programme, facilitated by two senior Cranfield academics on behalf of the UK community, has supported environmental research across the UK, exploring the role of digital approaches and data science in advancing environmental scientific understanding and supporting environmental decision making. In September 2023 this work was presented at the Royal Society in London to an audience drawn from over 60 organisations with an interest in the role and opportunity of digital approaches in supporting environmental decision making.

At the inaugural Oxford to Cambridge pan-Regional Partnership conference, the Arc Universities Group hosed a workshop on The Power of Universities: Driving Green Innovation and Skills for a Sustainable Future. Professor Simon Pollard OBE, Chair of the AUG’s Environmental Partnership Board, led the panel discussion.

International research collaboration

Much of our research involves international collaboration to collect data to support the SDGs. Project NWE-REGENERATIS is just one example. This major European collaboration reported its findings during 2022/23 on tackling the sectoral and contextual barriers faced by urban mining to recover waste from the metal industry.

Another circular economy example is the ULTIMATE project, focused around nine large-scale demonstration sites across Europe and the SE Mediterranean. Partnering with Aquabio Ltd plus 25 international collaborators, Cranfield researchers will aim to recover ammonia for use as fertiliser, recover heat for use in the distillery and recover water for reuse.

Education for the goals

In 2022/23, Dr Rosina Watson published an article on Leading for Sustainability in Developing Leaders Quarterly (#42 – Q3) which outlines the case for education for sustainability and the key competencies needed to successfully co-create knowledge and action for sustainability.

Outreach

We continued to support communities to understand SDGs, for example, through our speaker series and our student Green Team. Engineers of the future are set to be inspired by staff from Cranfield University after the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) awarded funding for a series of school outreach events. Once again, our students presented at Soapbox Science in Milton Keynes, an annual outreach event which Cranfield also sponsors.

SDG reporting

In April 2022 Cranfield signed the SDG Accord.

During the year we published a number of reports highlighting our sustainability progress, including our Annual Environment Report; SDG Accord report including three case studies; and Sustainability in Action: United Nations Principles of Responsible Management Education (download on this web page).

Collaborating

Cranfield was one of eight universities from the UK and Ireland that worked together in 2022 to explore how they could promote and utilise the SDGs to drive institutional change across research and culture, their curricula and their sense of place in the community.

Partnerships

Our global partnerships are important to us. In 2021/22 we entered a new partnership with the National Crime Agency and renewed our partnerships with Babcock and Santander Universities. We signed a skills agreement with Airbus and entered a new strategic partnership with Regional and City Airports.

Working with governments

We work with NGOs and governments around the world to help develop SDG related policies. Examples in 2021/22 have included working with the Welsh government on soil policy and with the Thai government on foresight into the BCG Economy. As part of a consortium of UK universities, Cranfield, alongside the governments of the UK and Rwanda, the University of Rwanda, and the UN, have designed and led on the Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold Chain (ACES) which is the first of its kind dedicated to generating ideas and technology to support sustainable cooling without exacerbating climate change. Cranfield also contributes to FORENV – the EU Foresight System for Emerging Environmental Issues. In 2021/22 FORENV reported on emerging issues impacting the delivery of a zero-pollution ambition by 2050.

Strategic dialogue

Our cross-sectoral dialogue supporting the SDGs in 2021/22 has included the culmination of the first Global Aviation Summit. As part of Manufacturing and Materials Week, the National Manufacturing Debate focused on the UK’s green recovery plan, and Manufacturing 2075 looked at the space industry and the technical and environmental challenges that throws up. The Resilience Grand Challenge also took part in the 76th United Nations General Assembly discussions.

International research collaboration

Much of our research involves international collaboration to collect data to support the SDGs. Just one example that we reported in 2021/22 was the NextGen EU project, in which a consortium of over 30 organisations conducted a survey to find up-to-date views on the state of acceptance of wastewater recycling (direct potable reuse). We also continue to host the FAAM Airborne Laboratory – a world-class research facility dedicated to the advancement of atmospheric science – and to partner with National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS).

Education for the goals

In 2021/22, we introduced a new Sustainability master's-level apprenticeship which was among the first of its kind in the UK to be available via the Apprenticeship Levy. This added to our comprehensive sustainability education programmes.

Outreach

We continued to support communities to understand SDGs, for example, through our speaker series and our student Green Team. We introduced free-at-the-point-of-delivery support to local businesses.

Cranfield has outlined its commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and our activity to support them.

Universities have a crucial role in helping to address some of the most pressing issues facing our world today. Signing the SDG Accord makes clear Cranfield’s ongoing focus on bringing academic expertise, industry insight and new technological developments to government, business and wider society.

Cranfield delivers sustainability education programmes, including apprenticeships and master's courses (MSc Management and Corporate Sustainability and MSc Sustainability).

We have direct involvement in governmental policy setting, for example, regionally, the MACRO cyber security programme is a collaboration with the Universities of Kent and Bath, Oxfordshire County Council, Kent County Council, South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership, Transport for the South East to develop tools and models to address low carbon mobility, data sharing and cybersecurity threats.

Conferences have included hosting an online round table on our Resilience Grand Challenge at the UNGA76 Science Summit, part of the 76th UN General Assembly in New York.

We have also participated in international collaboration in gathering data for the SDGs, for example, Cranfield partners with the National Centre for Atmospheric Science to host the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM), a world-class research facility dedicated to gathering data to advance atmospheric science.

As part of our student volunteer programme, Cranfield students run Silsoe Aid for Appropriate Development (SAFAD) which sends mostly Cranfield, graduate and postgraduate, student volunteers to almost 40 different countries in the developing world. Volunteers work with local organisations to provide technical assistance and expertise.

We are taking part in The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings for the first time in 2021.