Goal 17 - Institutional Stewardship Initiatives
Institutional Stewardship Initiatives
The University of Alberta collaborates with Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) and other units to tackle the Sustainable Development Goals through student volunteering programs; research programs; the development of educational resources; and the delivery of education, engagement and capacity building events.
Capacity Building Programs
Adaptation Reslience Training (ART)
With the Adaptation Resilience Training (ART) program, students gain experience applying the skills they have gained throughout their post-secondary education, while also contributing to Alberta’s resilience to the impacts of climate change.
Alberta Council for Global Cooperation SDG Hub
The SDG Hub is a skill-development, volunteering and mentorship program for youth ages 18-24 in Alberta. While completing volunteer hours with an organization or by initiating their own projects, participants have the opportunity to attend professional development training, engage in meaningful dialogue on local and global sustainable development issues, and be matched with a mentor. Meet the 2021-2022 cohort and learn how Alberta’s youth (including University of Alberta students) are engaging with global challenges to make the world a better place.
Together Alberta
The Alberta Council for Global Cooperation (ACGC) champions the Sustainable Development Goals in Alberta. In 2019, to understand the ecosystem of organizations and individuals advancing the goals, they launched the project Together Alberta: Mapping Alberta’s Contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals. The University of Alberta supported this project and continues to participate in ACGC’s efforts to raise the goals’ profile in Alberta.
Educational Activities for Alumni, Students, and the Local Community
Careers Aren’t Linear
The experiences you have, the interests you pursue and the decisions you make — during and after your time at university — will impact your career, often in ways you can’t predict. But it’s not all up to fate!
Precision Health in Action: Making Medicine Work for You
The newest frontier in health care is all about precision: diagnoses, treatments and preventive measures tailored towards a patient’s biological and environmental makeup instead of the traditional “one-size-fits all” approach. It could mean learning you have a chronic or rare disease with one simple test or being prescribed a medication that’s more effective and has fewer side effects, all because it was made with your genetics in mind.
Roots of Change: The Future of Canadian Gardens and Plates
Four experts in public health, anthropology, nutrition and agriculture will discuss how modern gardens interact with some of the most pressing issues of our time—and what we can be doing in our own backyards to build a healthier planet.
Education, Engagement and Capacity Building Events
Alberta Student Leadership Summit
The Sustainability Council and Sustain SU’s Alberta Student Leadership Summit was a five day, nation-wide leadership conference open to both high school and post-secondary students. All sessions were free and accessible online and provided daily, sustainability-focused, streamed sessions covering topics such as fair trade, climate refugees, energy and e-waste.
International Week
Started in 1986, International Week is the largest annual extracurricular educational event at the University of Alberta. Workshops, film screenings, speakers and interactive activities foster global citizenship through engagement with some of today's most pressing issues including sustainability, poverty and the precarious status of refugees and displaced people. I-Week invites students, staff and the general public to hear from speakers, experts and NGOs to learn about international and local perspectives on global issues. Since 2015, the programming has raised awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals and showcased local experts and activists making progress on the goals. I-Week is an incubator of ideas and a source of inspiration for everyone to work together for a better world.
Sustainability Awareness Week
The University of Alberta Sustainability Council’s annual Sustainability Awareness Week highlights campus sustainability initiatives and social and environmental issues, and it offers opportunities to build connections beyond campus. Events include popular walking tours, hands-on workshops, speaker panels, film screenings and explorations of local food.
Education and Engagement Initiatives/Programs
Future Energy Systems - Outreach
Future Energy Systems organizes visits to classrooms in the Edmonton area. Depending on the age of the participants and the request, classroom or organization visits may incorporate hands-on activities or talks.
Play Around the World
Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport & Recreation’s Play Around the World service-learning course sends University of Alberta students on a 3-month placement with NGOs in select countries to collaborate in the provision of sport, recreation, play and physical activity to children and youth of all abilities.
Sustainability Lecture Series
This lecture series brings together local expertise and global innovation across all fields of sustainability. Meet scholars from the University of Alberta and beyond in fields ranging from engineering to ecology, public health to poetry, native studies to nanotechnology and more.
Relationships, Cross-sectoral Dialogue and Collaboration with Non-governmental Organizations
Academics Without Borders
Academics Without Borders, an NGO, supports capacity development in tertiary education in developing countries so that these countries can educate their own experts and professionals.
Engineers Without Borders: Junior Fellowship Program in International Development - Volunteer Placement - Internship
The Engineers Without Borders (EWB) University of Alberta Chapter strives to create a multi-disciplinary community of systems change leaders who courageously commit to transforming systems that allow inequality to persist. Through asking tough questions and investing in people and ideas, the chapter works to see change in the University of Alberta community and beyond. Through their network of Canadian University Chapters and ventures in Sub-Saharan Africa, they hope to create and connect young leaders around the world through policy and advocacy work, impact investing, dreaming big and working hard. The Junior Fellowship Program is a four month, overseas placement working in one of EWB’s many ventures.
SDG Alliance
A number of students have expressed a desire to connect with like-minded individuals and form a new student club with a mission to help advance the SDGs (and sustainability at large) on campus and beyond. Work is currently underway by a group of students to register the University of Alberta SDG Alliance as a new student club/group.