51³Ô¹ÏÍø

Leaders from 51³Ô¹ÏÍø and the UN met to explore ways the College can support efforts to tackle development challenges.

51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s President, Professor Hugh Brady and Vice Provost (Research & Enterprise) Professor Mary Ryan met with UN officials in New York to discuss how science and technology can contribute to major global issues such as health, climate and food security. 

51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s leaders held meetings with Grace Wood, First Secretary & Head of Sustainable Development at UK Mission to the UN, Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator, and Amandeep Singh Gill, UN Secretary-General's Envoy on Technology.  

51³Ô¹ÏÍø has consultative status at the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) which sees the College’s community closely engage with ECOSOC to contribute towards policymaking, hold joint events with the UN, and advance the Sustainable Development Goals through research and collaboration. The  coordinates the economic, environmental, social, and related work of the 15 United Nations specialised agencies. 

The meetings this week form part of a broader visit by 51³Ô¹ÏÍø leaders, who are meeting key partners and 51³Ô¹ÏÍø alumni in New York and Boston. 

Development Partnerships

51³Ô¹ÏÍø researchers from Medicine, Engineering and Life Sciences at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø are collaborating with the  at University of Ghana to create novel rapid malaria diagnostic linking detection and surveillance.

The  is a network of multi-disciplinary scientists working with commercial companies that manufacture diagnostics to put new disease control tools and strategies into practice (SDG3).

51³Ô¹ÏÍø academics are also collaborating with UNDP Accelerator labs around water and sanitation and flood management. The UNDP labs are focused on working with policymakers and innovators in developing countries to forge solutions to local challenges in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. 51³Ô¹ÏÍø's Global Development Hub have placed PhD students in UNDP Sierra Leone and UNDP Indonesia.

Experts from 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, the University of Ghana and the Impact Hub Accra partnered in an initiative to develop student entrepreneurs. The project, which was led by  and supported by the , focused on co-creating a student entrepreneurship programme to enable students to develop successful businesses. 

Global Development Hub 

In 2021, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø launched its Global Development Hub to accelerate the global impact of its world-leading research, education and innovation.   

The hub supports 51³Ô¹ÏÍø's contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Agenda 2030, and the College's work more broadly with some of the most vulnerable and marginalised in societies where multiple global challenges are acutely concentrated.  

Professor Hugh Brady, President of 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, said: “As one of the world’s leading universities, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø is uniquely placed to help tackle urgent global challenges like climate change and pollution, global epidemics, world hunger and access to clean water. This kind of societal impact drives everything we do.

"Through 51³Ô¹ÏÍø's special consultative status and Global Development Hub our community is already engaging closely with the UN to find ways of solving the most pressing challenges and meeting the Sustainable Development Goals.

“I was pleased to discuss our shared commitment to these ambitions with UN colleagues. Together, we can deliver transformative impact on a global scale.”