It’s a Hit! Mapping Austrian Research Contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) present a global agenda addressing social, economic, and environmental challenges in a holistic approach. Universities can contribute to the implementation of the SDGs by providing know-how and best-practice examples to support implementation and by integrating issues of sustainability into their operations, research, education, and science-society interactions. In most of the signatory countries of the Agenda 2030, an overview of the extent to which universities have already addressed the SDGs in research is not available. Using the example of universities in Austria, this study presents a tool to map research that addresses sustainability topics as defined by the SDGs. The results of an analysis of scientific projects and publications show current focus areas of SDG related research. Research on SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being) and SDG 4 (Quality Education) is well represented by universities in Austria, while other SDGs, such as SDG 1 (No Poverty) or SDG 14 (Life Below Water), are under-represented research fields. We anticipate the results will support universities in identifying the thematic orientation of their research in the framework of the SDGs. This information can facilitate inter-university cooperation to address the challenge of implementing the SDGs.