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Research Informed

SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation and InfrastructureUniversity College Cork is one of Ireland’s leading research intensive Universities and has an active research community working on multiple aspects of sustainability. 15% of all researchers in UCC are engaged in research that is directly related to the SDGs

SDG 17 - Partnerships for the GoalsUCC’s sustainability researchers can be found throughout the University’s four colleges working in the constituent schools, associated research centres and through multidisciplinary institutes and SFI centres such as the Environmental Research Institute (ERI), Institute for Social Sciences in the 21st century (ISS21), Tyndall National Institute, MaREI Institute, APC Microbiome Institute and more.  In excess of 20m euro is secured annually for environmental and sustainability research.

UCC is committed to utilising our world class research in a way that will demonstrate best practice solutions to sustainable development challenges.  In January 2019, this was formalised through the development of UCC’s Green Campus Living Laboratory Seed Fund (see below).

Environmental Citizenship as a Priority Area

The Office of the UCC Vice President for Research and Innovation identified “Environmental Citizenship” as a Research Priority Area. A key objective of this was to encourage trans- and inter-disciplinary research collaborations.

Key events that have occurred over the years that this priority area has been in place include:

Book cover for Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Transitions to SustainabilityEmerging from all of these events, in 2016, the book ‘Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Transitions to Sustainability’ was published. The book of draws together the insights and perspectives of fifteen academics from across the disciplinary bounds at UCC (as well as authors from Queen’s University Belfast and TU Graz). 

In September 2017, a colloquium on “Metaphors of Transformative Change” was held at the Environmental Research Institute. Download the book of abstracts from this colloquium.

Research Centres

UCC’s Research Strategy focuses on creating major centres of excellence for world-class research and is closely aligned with key relevant Government and European Commission policies. A number of these research centres undertake research that directly speaks to the Sustainable Development Goals, for example:

Living Laboratory Seed Fund

A "Living Laboratory", with thanks to funding from the HEA, uses the knowledge and research capabilities of our students and staff to solve issues relating to our own infrastructure and practices. UCC Green Campus established the Living Laboratory Seed Fund to research and address real-life problems, using UCC itself as a testbed.

Green Campus

University College Cork, College Road, Cork T12 YN60,

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