Sustainability Spotlight, Aug 2021 - Sustainable Futures Global Network
The University of Glasgow's commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals is a big part of the overall picture of our ambition to achieve environmentally sound, equitable and just conditions for current and future generations. The Centre already promotes a range of projects funded to address the SDGs, and our co-founder and Associate Director, Dr Mia Perry, is a founder and co-director with Dr Deepa Pullanikkatil of the Sustainable Futures in Africa (SFA) Network, a long-standing and large network of scholars, artists, educators, NGOs and communities with a shared commitment to sustainability challenges as they manifest in very different ways across the world.
For the past five years this network has supported over 100 members in capacity strengthening, training, research, and development through genuine ethical partnerships and friendships. Based on this trajectory some members of the Network are currently engaged in a GCRF Clusters Grant, in a project called Participatory Futures. This project builds on a fundamental but inadequately understood component of all international sustainability research; that of partnerships across vastly different contexts, cultures, and knowledges.
"Despite the increasing affluence and capacity of the Global North, people in the south still suffer disproportionately from disease, poverty, war, famine and climate change. We have come together in recognition that partnerships and participation represent a fundamental but complex component of all GCRF work. We contend that without genuine and equitable partnerships at the foundations of our research, the potential impact, relevance, and sustainability of the research will forever be limited or negated." -- Participatory Futures Project Scope.
Latest News:
The SFA Network is now transitioning to become part of the Sustainable Futures Global Network – with new hubs in Germany, Bangladesh, and India - creating a truly global interdisciplinary collective that is forging new models of cooperation, practice, and multi-stake holder partnerships for sustainability.
Image credit: Photograph of SFA members in Lira, Uganda in 2019, used with permission of the SFA Network.