World Association for Sustainable Development (WASD) is very pleased to welcome you to the Qatar Universities Sustainable Development Goals Initiative (QSDGsUNi). The initiative aims to bring together all universities and research institutions in Qatar and comet them with universities from across the world in a global forum to collaborate and reconnect with the discourse of Sustainable Development (SD). QSDGsUNi will therefore help Qatar universities and research institutions to play a critical role enabling Qatar reap the benefits form the global growth in the knowledge economy particularly for the country’s Digital Natives (Youth).

QSDGsUNi aims to critically examine a number of issues relating to the role and relevance of universities and research institutions in Qatar to the contemporary discourse of countries’ sustainable inclusive knowledge-based development such as the role of Qatar universities in supporting and enhancing the process of economic and social development in Qatar; identify all major obstacles that Qatari universities face in their countries including any governments components and most importantly how can these obstacles best be overcome; and what is the new role(s) of Qatari universities in the post Covid-19 era. 

QSDGsUNi also aims to improve the research within Qatar universities to help achieve the Qatar Vision 2030 and the United Nations Agenda 2030 and its 17 SDGs by addressing the significant demand for evidence-based research across the world. It is therefore aims to provide practical recommendations and actions to help transform the way Qatar universities conduct and use research to achieve the SDGs, and the way Qatar universities access and benefit from the global data freely available for use by leading international organizations such as the UN, World Bank, etc. The Initiative will work closely with various Qatar universities to address the following key issues in their contribution to Qatar Vision 2030 and Qatar’s efforts to achieve the Agenda 2030 and its SDGs: how Qatari universities see the role of STI in service of the 2030 Agenda?; how do Qatar universities reflect the SDGs in their own research activities?; and do Qatar universities believe that the HE system in Qatar is properly using scientific research in finding solutions to Qatar’s problems?