SDG Detail

Embracing interdisciplinarity: The SDGs as a route to cross-disciplinary dialogue in the classroom

Postgraduate program

Project description

The University of Bristol�s �Sustainable Development� open unit represents a constituent part of the innovative Bristol Futures curriculum, which is based on the provision of skills, awareness and � significantly � agency to undergraduate students at the University. Within this framework, the Sustainable Development unit has been developed by a multi-disciplinary teaching team, including academics from across the Faculty of Science, Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Social Science & Law and the Faculty of Arts.

Year None

Location United Kingdom

Organization University of Bristol

Project aims

Our primary aim when developing this unit was to embed the Sustainable Development Goals � and wider sustainable development policy � into the curriculum for students across the University of Bristol. In doing so, we wanted to encourage students to both understand and embrace interdisciplinarity and systems thinking, teaching to �think� beyond their disciplines, backgrounds and experience and understand that addressing global challenges requires collaboration across the traditional silos of academia and policy-making.�

Project outcome

Within these workshops, students have completed a number of active, problem-based tasks � including the designing of a mobile app to contribute to SDG 7, a participatory budgeting exercise centred on SDG 11 and the development of an advertising campaign to feed into SDG 12. In doing so, students have demonstrated both an impressive ability to work in interdisciplinary teams but also their potential in thinking creatively and holistically in how they � and their education � can contribute to the achievement of the SDGs.