Najam Gives Keynote at Seminar on SDGs and Higher Ed
Adil Najam, Dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, delivered a keynote talk at a July 9, 2018 at a seminar on sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the role of universities hosted by the Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS) in Islamabad, Pakistan.
The objective of the seminar was to facilitate the universities understanding, preparing and responding to the opportunities and challenges presented, in particular the localization of transformative 2030 SDG agenda. Themes covered during the seminar included “Promotion and Advocacy for SDGs,” “SDG Implementation: Perspective on Research and Development,” and “Frontier Technologies: Scientific Institutions Driving Innovation.”
In my keynote on Role of #Universities in Implementing #SDGs, I focused on what #HigherEd can do through teaching, research, and as a ‘living lab.’ Stressed that key will be interdisciplinary #research and to beat back the disastrous fetish of #ImpactFactor and silly metrics. pic.twitter.com/VMCtgTc6Xj
— Adil Najam عادل نجم (@AdilNajam) July 9, 2018
The program featured expert talks from representatives of international organizations who elaborated on the general concepts, steps, and examples of operating SDG framework across universities. This seminar generated insightful discussions culminating with a set of policy recommendations and an action plan to
align research and development with SDGs.
Adil Najam is the inaugural dean of the Pardee School and a professor of international relations and also of earth and environment at Boston University. He was a co-author for the Third and Fourth Assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); work for which the IPCC was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize for advancing the public understanding of climate change science.