The European Union (EU) has been central to global discussions about the future of the planet.
It was a major contributor to the development of the United Nations’ Agenda for Global Transformation, with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The European Green Deal aims to make Europe carbon-neutral by 2050, and this challenge is reflected in the EU’s major investment in public research and innovation for 2021-27, Horizon Europe. Since 2015, EU institutions have also integrated the implementation of the SDGs into their planning as core business. Smart Specialisation is a direct outcome of European integration and reflects the progressive development of the EU’s economic, social, and environmental agenda for a future Europe. It links closely with Horizon Europe and the EU’s commitments to the UN SDGs.
The Social and Scientific Innovation to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SSISDG) Network will examine the role of the EU’s Smart Specialisation in linking scientific and social innovation, and how this can help deliver global action to address societal challenges. Experience over the past five years in implementing S3 in EU regions has demonstrated that science and technology innovation (STI) can address societal challenges in regions. Yet the EU has also experienced the limitations of STI and recognised the importance of socio-ecological innovation. This has also become apparent in global efforts to meet societal challenges.
As well as focusing on scientific approaches, greater attention should be paid to social innovation. This brings a more holistic perspective on understanding mission challenges and mobilises more diverse, inclusive voices and expertise, to progress these efforts in new directions.
The SSISDG Network will address this work through a research program considering the links between global action and regional development, and STI and socio-ecological innovation. The Network will address these issues by:
The European Union Centre hosts public seminars by Network collaborators on selected topics addressing issues related to the Network’s mission to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Melbourne (AEDT) 7pm – 8pm
Singapore (SGT) 4pm – 5pm
Glasgow (BST) 9am – 10am
Recently, Australia’s integration into a new security alliance with the United States and the United Kingdom, based around Australian acquisition of nuclear submarines, has highlighted the important role Australia plays in questions of global security. From an Australian perspective, this AUKUS alliance highlights how the existential threat of climate change is still treated as entirely separate from hard questions of military security. Australia has long been identified as a global ‘villain’ of climate policy, and yet pressure from Australia’s closest allies has failed to shame the federal government into substantial policy change.
This seminar asks how it is that this separation continues to inform western diplomacy and policy, and what that says about prospects for the kind of ‘good’ global governance that underpins agreements like the Paris Accords and action to deliver on Goals 13 and 16 in the UN Global Agenda.
Dr Emma Shortis, Research Fellow, RMIT University
Professor Benjamin Cashore, Li Ka Shing Professor in Public Management, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore
Associate Professor Robbie Guevara, RMIT University; President, International Council of Adult Education,
Professor Bruce Wilson, Director, European Union Centre of Excellence at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia; Visiting Professor of Education, University of Glasgow.
1pm - 2pm AEDT
2022 marks the halfway point for the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a 15-year plan to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. In 2019, the UN called for a 'Decade of Action', pledging to mobilize financing, enhance national implementation and strengthen institutions to achieve the Goals by the target date of 2030. Despite this commitment, and despite calls for the SDGs to form 'a critical framework for COVID-19 recovery,' progress is too slow, and in many cases, going backwards.
This seminar, hosted by the Jean Monnet Network on Scientific and Social Innovation in Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SSISDG Network), will examine the challenges and opportunities for SDG implementation as the agenda's time rapidly runs out. Our expert panel will discuss pathways to impact for sustainable development, rapid response, and the relationship between the SDGs and climate transition.
Professor Gary Rosengarten, Director Enabling Capability Platform (Sustainability Development Technologies), RMIT University
Dr Jessica Reeves, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science, Federation University
Sophie Arnold, Executive Manager United Nations Association of Australia (Victorian Division)
Dr Emma Shortis, Research Fellow, RMIT University
12:30pm - 1:45pm AEST
2022 marks the halfway point for the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a 15-year plan to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. In 2019, the UN called for a 'Decade of Action', pledging to mobilize financing, enhance national implementation and strengthen institutions to achieve the Goals by the target date of 2030. Despite this commitment, and despite calls for the SDGs to form 'a critical framework for COVID-19 recovery,' progress is too slow, and in many cases, going backwards.
This seminar, hosted by the Jean Monnet Network on Scientific and Social Innovation in Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SSISDG Network), will examine the role of global governance in SDG implementation as the agenda's time rapidly runs out. Our expert panel will discuss why more of what we are doing now won’t lead to transformational change, the role of the European Union in global governance, and the role of civil society in achieving transformation.
Professor Benjamin Cashore, Li Ka Shing Professor in Public Management and Director, the Public Policy Initiative for Environment and Sustainability (PPIES), National University of Singapore
Dr Serena Kelly, Senior Lecturer and Deputy Director, National Centre for Research on Europe, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Associate Professor Roberto Guevara, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University.
Dr Emma Shortis, Lecturer, RMIT University
5:30 pm – 6:30pm AEST
The European Union has built over the years a multi-scalar governance framework to manage the design and implementation of its cohesion funds. This framework is built on two fundamental principles: the first is subsidiarity, which means that no higher level of administration should perform a function that a lower level could perform equally as well. This is to avoid the encroachment of the national or EU institutions on the actions of regional and local governments. The second is the principle of additionality, which says that cohesion funds should complement national policy and should not be used to fund the core activities of the welfare state or other government functions. In practice however, the EU’s multi-scalar governance is far more complex, with various conflicts and contradictions both between upper and lower levels of administration, across levels, and even within them.
It is in this context, that the implementation of innovation policy in the EU must be understood. Since 2014, all countries and regions of the EU are supposed to give more emphasis to intangibles such as innovation and firm competitiveness in their use of cohesion funds. This is framed by the principles of smart specialisation, according to which each region should prioritise a small number of sectors or technologies based on realised or latent capabilities. These principles have in general been observed by policy makers at the design stage, but implementation has been far more problematic.
This seminar will talk about an ongoing research project that uses text mining to categorise and analyse the implementation of smart specialisation strategies in France, Italy and Portugal. It will argue that there are unintended consequences to shifting cohesion funds towards intangibles, namely that Universities have become more prominent in the use of these funds, especially in less developed regions, which we argue is against the principles of smart specialisation. This also happened in the context of austerity which led the most affected countries to not respect the principle of additionality and use cohesion funds to support science policy. This research will be used to shed light on policy processes in the context of multi-scalar institutional frameworks and to provide lessons on how to improve the implementation of innovation policy.
Dr Pedro Marques, research fellow, INGENIO, joint research institute, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)/Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV); visiting fellow, Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS), Newcastle University; affiliated member, Centre for Innovation Research at Lund University (CIRCLE).
6:00pm - 7:30pm AEDT
As COP27 wraps up in Sharm El-Sheik, the EU Centre of Excellence at RMIT and the Institute for Environment and Sustainability at the National University of Singapore will host a reflective discussion with Professors Ben Cashore and Navroz K Dubash. Professor Cashore attended COP27 as an observer and will share his observations in conversation with Dr Emma Shortis. The seminar will be recorded as part of the fourth season of RMIT's podcast, Barely Gettin' By.
Professor Ben Cashore, Li Ka Shing Professor in Public Management; Director, Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES), Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore (NUS).
Dr Emma Shortis, Lecturer, European Union Centre of Excellence, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia.
Professor Navroz K Dubash, Centre for Policy Research, India.
3:00pm - 4:00pm AEST
As part of putting into practice ideas of social innovation, the European Union Centre of Excellence at RMIT has partnered with the Australian Learning Community Networks (ALCN). ALCN Friday Forums are an informal network organised and led by leading-edge learning practitioners so that they can have conversations about issues they deal with in the field and share resources in areas of interest.
This conversation engages with George Osborne, Manager Economic Development, Hume City Council, on the advantages of extending the Learning City Approach into other areas of Local Government and beyond. George will share examples of adapting a collaborative learning city approach to other areas of government, with a focus on Economic Development.
The second conversation will focus on the tensions between learning for the economic sphere and learning for well-being/democracy presented by Maren Klein, Research Fellow, at RMIT University.
George Osborne, Manager Economic Development, Hume City Council.
Dr Maren Klein, Research Fellow, RMIT University.
As part of the project, the Jean Monnet SDG Network is delivering a series of workshops for graduate students and early career researchers (broadly defined) aimed at exploring the role of tertiary education institutions and their own research in finding innovative ways in driving the achievement of the SDGs and a sustainable future more broadly The workshop series takes place in a hybrid format to enable delivery by various project partners and to ensure a broad reach.
9.30am-2:30pm
In September 2015, the United Nations unanimously adopted the 2030 Agenda and, as its cornerstone, 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to shape international efforts to promote a sustainable, peaceful and equitable world. Implementation of the SDGs requires action on an immense scale, involving not only government and business, but also civil society, particularly universities. But as the President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) pointed out in July this year, 2023 marks the halfway point for the agenda and the world is nowhere near achieving the Goals. To get back on track, she highlighted the importance of tailoring activities to local conditions and priorities, and the vital role of innovation, technology, and partnerships with a diverse range of stakeholders, including governments, civil society and in particular young people, the private sector, and academia to achieve the necessary change.
Universities themselves are increasingly focused on the SDGs. In 2018, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings introduced a new measurement based on the Goals, aiming to rank global universities’ success in delivering on SDG targets.
Institutions across the world—including RMIT—are looking to the SDGs as a framework for teaching, research, engagement, and impact.
The Jean Monnet Social and Scientific Innovation to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals Network is offering a series of workshops for graduate students and early career researchers (broadly defined) who want to discover and/or understand how their research can contribute to achieving the SDGs as a tool for global transformation.
Guest researchers, participating at different times in the project:
The Jean Monnet Network on Social and Scientific Innovation in Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals’ engagement suite of events includes an annual policy dialogue which coincides with the annual Network Roundtable. Policy dialogues enable the Network to report to and engage with policymakers, and to explore the relevance of the evidence emerging from research in relation to key policy and program decisions, at institutional, regional and national level.
Held on 15 February 2023 to coincide with the Networks’ second Roundtable[1] at RMIT University in Melbourne, the policy dialogue served as a trial and demonstration of one of the Network’s research clusters’ innovative approach to inclusive education.
The hybrid policy forum was hosted jointly by the Jean Monnet Network on Social and Scientific Innovation on Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, and the European Union Centre of Excellence at RMIT University, the Australian Coalition for Education and Development (ACED), Adult Learning Australia (ALA), and Women in Adult and Vocational Education (WAVE).
The policy dialogue aimed to contribute to the current policy conversations on the need to transforming education and training in Australia and globally from the perspective of employment, education and skills development that ensures the principles of equity, gender, and sustainability.
Speakers included key policymakers at federal and state levels, international education experts, and experts on and advocates of adult learning, community education and vocational education and training to share their perspectives on co-creating more inclusive, equitable and sustainable LLL systems in Australia.
Program
Watch recording – Video address by the Hon. Brendan O'Connor, Minister of Skills, and Training (Adult Learning Australia YouTube channel)
Watch recording – Morning sessions (Adult Learning Australia YouTube channel)
Presentation Craig Robertson (Victorian Skills Authority) – Transforming Education and Training in Australia – Lifelong Learning opportunities to address the challenges of the pandemic, jobs and skills crisis and climate justice. (Local and Global) (PDF)
Presentation Ellen Boeren (Professor of Education, University of Glasgow) – Policy initiatives in job and skills and inclusive lifelong learning for adult - Perspectives from Europe (PDF)
Presentation Elaine Butler (Wave Amabassor) – Towards inclusive, equitable and sustainable LLL systems in Australia (PDF)
Presentation Jack Beetson (Executive Director LFLF) – Literacy for Life Foundation (First Nations perspective) (PDF)
Forum Statement (PDF) (Adult Learning Australia website)
[1] Due to the COVID-19 disruptions to Network members’ research work and the pandemic-related and at the time still ongoing travel requirements/restrictions, it had been deemed more efficient to defer the first policy dialogue until substantive research results were available.
Held in November 2023 at the National University of Singapore and hosted by the University’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy’s Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES) in partnership with RMIT University’s Jean Monnet Network on Social and Scientific Innovation to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goal, this event featured three dialogues:
Acknowledgement of Country
RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Luwaytini' by Mark Cleaver, Palawa.
Acknowledgement of Country
RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business.
