DE MONTFORT University has been collaborating on the world stage into the best practice on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) since their inception a decade ago.
DMU has been a global academic hub for either SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities or SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institution for the past seven years – and one of the hub’s primary roles is to share best practice.
The university was the very first in the world to be awarded global academic hub status by the United Nations for one of the SDGs in 2019 – Goal 16. DMU was awarded a second three-year term as the global hub for SDG 16 in 2022.
In 2025, DMU was appointed as the global academic hub chair for SDG 11 in an expanded programme for the 2025-2028 period.
Research and comparative analysis
DMU is chair leading three other universities, in Germany, Brazil and Vietnam, who will all share SDG 11 best practice across research, outreach, partnership, and teaching..
One of the main requirements of a global academic hub chair is to share the best practice on its SDG with the rest of the world after research and comparative analysis with partner universities and organisations.
Head of DMU’s SDG Impact Hub and the university’s lead for SDG 11 Dr Mark Charlton said: “The sharing of best practice in the SDGs is an aspect of the global academic hub chair status that is of fundamental importance to us.
Sharing of best practice globally
“Apart from the reports we provide to the UNAI and other UN organisations, we are regularly sharing best practice on the SDGs gathered from our collaborators and others to organisations locally, nationally and internationally.
“This can be from attending conferences, such as the meeting of all SDG global hubs in Greece during 2025, to regular meetings online and in-person with fellow universities and other NGOs throughout the world.”
This has included reporting on the progress of SDG projects, the sharing of academic papers and also the future direction of SDG policy.
DMU was in involved in discussions throughout 2024 with UN officials on the future for the expanded global academic hub programme that came into operation in January 2025.