17 ROOMS
The 17 Rooms exercise was a series of brainstorming sessions about how Concordia can have an even greater impact impact in relation to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Overview
From February to June 2022, Concordia hosted a weekly series of sessions called the 17 Rooms. Each consecutive session focused on one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The goal of the exercise was to engage the Concordia community in strategizing about how to coordinate activities and achieve greater impact related to the SDGs.
Participants were invited by the 17 Rooms team based on individuals’ interests, expertise and demonstrated commitment to impact- and engagement-oriented work.
1. Build an "impact agenda"
Articulate clear goals, targets and roadmaps to help define where and how we should focus our SDG-related efforts on our own campuses and communities.
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2. Assess and track progress on SDGs
Rigorously assess and track progress on institutional commitments to SDG-aligned efforts around decolonization, EDI, sustainability and good governance practices in order to have a clear understanding of our strengths and weaknesses and uphold accountability.
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3. Foster interdisciplinary research to enhance impact
Use the SDGs as a mechanism to foster interdisciplinary research collaborations with a focus on enhanced social impact by finding effective ways to engage and align various researchers and research units around a common set of challenges and objectives.
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4. Create co-teaching opportunities and cross-disciplinary courses
Use the SDGs as a basis for creating co-teaching opportunities and cross-disciplinary course offerings, with a focus on providing students with immersive forms of experiential learning that builds skills in complex problem-solving and sustainable innovation.
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5. Use the 'campus as a living lab' model
Expand the use of the "campus as a living lab" model to facilitate SDG-inspired initiatives that integrate research, teaching, operations, services and community engagement, testing and modeling new practices on our own campuses.
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6. Provide training, support and recognition for social impact work
Provide training, support and appropriate forms of recognition for faculty, staff and students who want to influence public policy, do advocacy work and pursue other forms of social impact.
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7. Extend efforts providing leadership and guidance
Develop or extend efforts to provide leadership and guidance to businesses, governments and communities undertaking sustainability—and equity-related transitions, building on faculty expertise, student initiatives and know-how developed through efforts on our own campuses.
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8. Build multi-stakeholder partnerships
Find additional ways to build and contribute to multi-stakeholder partnerships at all levels to maximize Concordia’s reach and impact in relation to the SDGs and provide a range of learning opportunities and supports related to developing and managing partnerships.
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Background
The 17 Rooms format was developed by the Brookings Institution and the Rockefeller Foundation in 2018, on the eve of the UN General Assembly in New York City, as a way to stimulate collaboration and advance the SDGs.
Brookings and Rockefeller convened participants from disparate organizations and communities to meet in their own “Rooms,” or working groups, to identify actions that could be undertaken over the 12-18 months. Emerging ideas were then shared between Rooms to identify opportunities for collaboration across different SDGs.
According to Brookings, there are three key principles behind the 17 Rooms format:
- All SDGs get a seat at the table.
- Take a next step, not the perfect step.
- Conversations, not presentations.
17 Rooms team
- Jason Ens – Co-facilitator
Executive Director, Strategic Initiatives, Office of the Provost and Vice-President, Academic - Monica Mulrennan – Co-facilitator
Associate Vice-President, Research Development and Outreach, Office of the Vice-President, Research and Graduate Studies - Anna Waclawek
Manager, 4th Space - Doug Moffat
Production Coordinator, 4th Space - Prem Sooriyakumar
Knowledge Broker, Office of Research - David Ward
Knowledge Broker, Office of Research - Johanne Pelletier
Director, Projects and Initiatives, University Communications Services - Rebecca Tittler
Research Administration Coordinator / Loyola College for Diversity and Sustainability - Cassandra Lamontagne
Sustainability Coordinator, Office of Sustainability - Peter Graham
Part-time faculty member - Amy Nguyen
Program Coordinator, JMEC Sustainability Ecosystem and Concordia SDG Coordinator, SDSN Canada
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