International collaboration for data gathering for SDGs

Through international collaborations and participation in networks such as EUt+ (European University of Technology– an alliance of nine technological universities across Europe), CUT actively engages in a range of research and innovation initiatives to address global challenges, advance SDG-driven practices, and foster sustainable development. As part of these efforts, CUT contributes to shared international mechanisms that support the gathering, organisation, and analysis of information related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), enhancing collective understanding and coordinated action across institutions.

As part of its involvement in the EUt+ framework, CUT has designed and developed an integrated system to monitor and evaluate the consortium’s research impact on the SDGs. This system features two dedicated dashboards that compile all publications and funded projects within the consortium. By systematically categorising these outputs according to the SDGs, the system provides a robust tool for tracking, analysing, and visualising the consortium’s contributions to sustainable development. This initiative enhances data-driven decision-making and showcases the measurable progress of research efforts in addressing global challenges.

The methodology that has been developed to support the operation of the tools mentioned above can be found in the following publications:

[1] Partaourides, H., Kouzaridi, E., Tsapatsoulis, N., Djouvas, C. (2023): Thematic modeling of UN sustainable development goals: A comparative meta-based approach, Proceedings of the IFIP International Conference on Artificial Intelligence Applications and Innovations (AIAI 2023), doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-34107-6_44.

[2] Kouzaridi, E., Partaourides, H., Tsapatsoulis, N., Djouvas, C. (2023): Assessing the Importance of Key Terms in UN SDGs Through Citizens Labs, Proceedings of the IEEE Intl Conf on Pervasive Intelligence and Computing (PiCom 2023), doi: 10.1109/DASC/PiCom/CBDCom/Cy59711.2023.10361322.

[3] Charalampous, A., Djouvas, C., Tsapatsoulis, N., Kouzaridi, E. (2024). Emerging Research Topics Identification Using Temporal Graph Neural Networks. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, vol 713. Springer, doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-63219-8_15.

Access to the tools through the links below:

• Publications per SDG of the European University of Technology
• EC funded projects per SDG of the European University of Technology
• UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Classification

Beyond its work within the EUt+ alliance, CUT further strengthens its contribution to international data-gathering efforts for the SDGs through its active participation in global sustainability networks, particularly the International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN). By engaging in the ISCN working group on the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, CUT collaborates with universities worldwide to exchange methodologies, address common data-collection challenges, and co-develop more practical, comparable, and transparent sustainability reporting tools. This international collaboration enables CUT not only to benchmark its own progress but also to contribute to collective knowledge on SDG measurement, supporting the creation of shared frameworks that improve the consistency, reliability, and comparability of sustainability data across institutions. More information can be found in the ISCN Conference Report 2024 (p. 33).

Overall, CUT demonstrates a strong commitment to international collaboration, actively participating in joint initiatives that strengthen data gathering and improve measurement of SDG progress through shared tools, global partnerships, and evidence-based approaches.