The University of Ottawa was recently recognized for its commitment to sustainability by The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, which highlights institutional contributions to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In 2022, uOttawa had a strong showing in several areas, ranking:

SDG 1: No Poverty

Brief description: Ending poverty in all its forms everywhere.

Specific actions taken: uOttawa Free Store

News articles: A Win-Win Situation: Getting Retailers to Donate Excess Inventory

Research papers:

• Self-employment, financial knowledge, and retirement planning (Journal of Small Business Management, 2022)
• Formalising village land dispossession? An aggregate analysis of the combined effects of the land formalisation and land acquisition agendas in Tanzania (Land Use Policy, 2022)
• Aid, Attitudes, and Insurgency: Evidence from Development Projects in Northern Afghanistan (American Journal of Political Science, 2023)
• Have COVID-19 Stimulus Packages Mitigated the Negative Health Impacts of Pandemic-Related Job Losses? A Systematic Review of Global Evidence from the First Year of the Pandemic (International Journal of Social Determinants of Health and Health Services, 2023)
• Leaving no woman or girl behind? Inclusion and participation in digital maternal health programs in sub-Saharan Africa (Reproductive Health, 2022)

SDG 2: Zero Hunger

Brief description: Ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture.

Specific actions taken: 

• Food Recovery Program
• Food Bank
• Community gardens
• Free Food Alert App

News articles: 

• Hidden poverty in Canada
• Sustainable food systems at uOttawa
• Alumni Association pledges support to combat student food insecurity

Research papers:

• Smart farming and artificial intelligence in East Africa: Addressing indigeneity, plants, and gender (Smart Agricultural Technology, 2023)
• Protein pluralism and food systems transition: A review of sustainable protein meta-narratives (World Development, 2023)
• The joint effect of female sex and food insecurity on self-reported mood disorder among Canadian adults: the Canadian community health survey (BMC Nutrition, 2023)
• Coming full circle: a critical review of the historical changes in governance, nutrition and food security of Labrador Inuit between 1500 and 2005 (Food, Culture and Society, 2023)
• Experiencing food insecurity in childhood: Influences on eating habits and body weight in young adulthood (Public Health Nutrition, 2023)

SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being

Brief description: Ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages.

Specific actions taken: 

• Student Health and Wellness Centre
• Organic Farmer's Box
• uOttawa partners with federal government and teachers to improve mental health of Canadian educators
• uOttawa and partners embrace leadership role in understanding heart-brain connection

News articles: 

• Researchers develop new standardized approach to assess driving risk for aging Canadians
• Paving the way toward a cure? Study reports new insights into role of proteins in HIV latency
• Professor Roojin Habibi leads a human rights-based approach to global health emergencies
• Professor Vanessa Gruben examines the safer supply movement as a tool to fight the opioid crisis
• Suicide attempts rose among children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for girls
• uOttawa secures $4M in research infrastructure grants to propel health and sustainability innovation
• What to do if your child is struggling: Steps caregivers can take to help kids and teens with their mental health 

Research papers:

• Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of mesenchymal stromal cells to treat coronavirus disease 2019: is it too late? (Cytotherapy, 2023)
• International Perspective on Abortion Access for Improving Reproductive Rights and Freedom of Adolescents and Young Adults (Journal of Adolescent Health, 2023)
• A systematic review of participatory approaches to empower health workers in low- and middle-income countries, highlighting Health Workers for Change (International Health, 2023)
• The role of assistive technology in addressing social isolation, loneliness and health inequities among older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic (Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 2022)
• Factors impacting antenatal care utilization: a systematic review of 37 fragile and conflict-affected situations (Conflict and Health, 2022)

SDG 4: Quality Education

Brief description: Ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all.

Specific actions taken: 

• uOttawa supports student success and resilience from elementary school to university
• "Unlearning” colonialism through teacher education

News articles:

• Advancing interdisciplinary research on equity, teaching, technology and wellness
• What can the Métis sash teach us about truth, and then reconciliation, for educators?
• Who are ‘Les ingénieux pédagogiques’?
• Esports and gaming Program:free play, coaching, competitions, workshops, and more ( Phase 2 Launches at the Library!)
• Showcasing Excellence in Legal Education through Experiential Learning : Highlights from the 2023 Moot Competition

Research papers:

• The “Missing Middle” of Education Service Delivery in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (Comparative Education Review, 2023)
• Towards Equitable Inclusion for Refugees: The Needs of Students With and Seeking Refugee Protection (Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, 2023)
• Investigating the challenges and opportunities of a bilingual equity knowledge brokering network: A critical and reflective perspective from university partners (Policy Futures in Education, 2023)
• ADULTS WITH LOW LITERACY SKILLS: Theoretical Perspectives Toward Understanding Teaching and Learning (Mapping the Field of Adult and Continuing Education: an International Compendium: Volume 1: Adult Learners, 2023)
• An audit of the carbon footprint of travel for the Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society International Education Foundation partnerships; [Un audit de l’empreinte carbone des voyages dans le cadre des partenariats de la Fondation d’éducation internationale de la Société canadienne des anesthésiologistes] (Canadian Journal of Anesthesia, 2023)

SDG 5: Gender Equality

Brief description: Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls.

Specific actions taken: 

• Period Project
• Feminist Resource Centre
• uOttawa students help improve services to BIPOC women and LGBTQ2+ community

News articles: 

• Inclusive Education – A Multifaceted Reality   
• Talking about gender diversity and inclusion in Canadian education
• Transgender or gender diverse populations in Canada suffer from higher rate of mental disorders and suicide: uOttawa study

Research papers:

• The gender gap in voter turnout: An artefact of men’s over-reporting in survey research? (British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 2023)
• Beyond feminist heroines: framing the discourses on Kurdish women fighters in three types of Western media (Feminist Media Studies, 2023)
• Sexual and reproductive health and rights in humanitarian settings: a matter of life and death (Reproductive Health, 2023)
• A comparative analysis of White and Indigenous girls’ perspectives on sexual violence, toxic masculinity and rape culture (International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 2023)
• Health and economic implications of the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on women and children in Africa (Reproductive Health, 2023)

SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation

Brief description: Ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

Specific actions taken: 

• A Community Approach to Water Stewardship: Prof. Aimée Craft Wins Knowledge Mobilization Award
• Water is life: Professor Aimée Craft invites us to explore our relationship with water 

News articles:

• A Community Approach to Water Stewardship: Prof. Aimée Craft Wins Knowledge Mobilization Award
• Water is life: Professor Aimée Craft invites us to explore our relationship with water 

Research papers:

• Upgrading municipal lagoons in temperate and cold climates: Total nitrogen removal and phosphorus assimilation at ultra-low temperatures (Water and Environment Journal, 2022)
• Impacts of Climate Change on Hydrological Regimes in the Congo River Basin (Sustainability (Switzerland), 2023)
• Rheology and setting time of saline cemented paste backfill (Minerals Engineering, 2023)
• Large batch bench-scale dissolved air flotation system for simulating full-scale turbidity removal (Environmental Technology (United Kingdom), 2022)
• A novel Multiple Attribute Decision-making approach for assessing the effectiveness of advertising to a target audience on drinking water consumers’ behavior considering age and education level (Habitat International, 2023)

SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy

Brief description: Ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

Specific actions taken: 

• Low Carbon Energy
• Sunny forecast for a uOttawa start-up driving the shift to a zero-carbon future
• Professor Monica Gattinger Appointed to Ontario's Electrification and Energy Transition Panel

News articles: 

• Energy Projects and Net Zero by 2050: Can we build enough fast enough?
• Sunny forecast for a uOttawa start-up driving the shift to a zero-carbon future

Research papers:

• Impacts of seasonal flow variation on riverine hydrokinetic energy resources and optimal turbine location – Case study on the Rivière Rouge, Québec, Canada (Renewable Energy, 2023)
• Modulating the Electronic Structure on Cobalt Sites by Compatible Heterojunction Fabrication for Greatly Improved Overall Water/Seawater Electrolysis (ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, 2022)
• Experimental optimization of operating conditions for an open bulk-scale silica gel/water vapour adsorption energy storage system (Applied Energy, 2022)
• Review: High-Entropy Materials for Lithium-Ion Battery Electrodes (Frontiers in Energy Research, 2022)
• DUET: A Novel Energy Yield Model with 3-D Shading for Bifacial Photovoltaic Systems (IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, 2022)

SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

Brief description: Promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.

Specific actions taken:

• uOttawa Career centre
• uOttawa and TELUS partner to fuel connectivity, innovation, and economic growth in the National Capital Region

News articles: Recognizing Africa’s innovation revolution: Leaders driving inclusive innovation receive Impact award 

Research papers:

• Non-profit Sector and Informal Economy: Entrepreneurial Spirit in Action (Civil Society and Pakistan’s Economy: Robber Barons and Meritocracy, 2023)
• Missions, fertility transition, and the reversal of fortunes: evidence from border discontinuities in the emirates of Nigeria (Journal of Economic Growth, 2023)
• Is COVID-19 perceived as a threat to equal career opportunities amongst Swiss medical students? A cross-sectional survey study from Bern and Geneva; [Wird COVID-19 von den Medizinstudierenden in der Schweiz als Bedrohung für die Chancengleichheit zur Erlangung des Berufes wahrgenommen? Eine Querschnittsstudie aus Bern und Genf] (GMS Journal for Medical Education, 2023)
• Regional-level coopetition strategies and company performance: evidence from the Canadian wine industry (Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 2023)
• Heterogeneity in labor mobility and unemployment flows across countries (European Economic Review, 2023)

SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

Brief description: Building resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation.

Specific actions taken: 

• Canada’s entrepreneurial mindset starts with its students
• Is our concrete infrastructure made to last? uOttawa Engineering researcher explains
• Open AIR Leads the Way on Regulation for Innovation in Lower-Income Countries
• Open AIR Seeks Equitable Solutions to Post-Pandemic Innovation Challenges
• Professor Jennifer Chandler discusses the risks of losing our brain privacy 

News articles:

• Canada’s entrepreneurial mindset starts with its students
• Is our concrete infrastructure made to last? uOttawa Engineering researcher explains
• Professor Jennifer Chandler discusses the risks of losing our brain privacy
• Open AIR Leads the Way on Regulation for Innovation in Lower-Income Countries
• Open AIR Seeks Equitable Solutions to Post-Pandemic Innovation Challenges 

Research papers:

• Future Trends in Connected and Autonomous Vehicles: Enabling Communications and Processing Technologies (IEEE Access, 2022)
• A Review on Swarm Intelligence and Evolutionary Algorithms for Solving the Traffic Signal Control Problem (IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 2022)
• Regional-level coopetition strategies and company performance: evidence from the Canadian wine industry (Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 2023)
• A Novel Reinforcement Learning-Based Cooperative Traffic Signal System Through Max-Pressure Control (IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 2022)
• Transition to the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Africa's Science, Technology and Innovation Framework and Indigenous Knowledge Systems (African Journal of Legal Studies, 2022)

SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

Brief description: Reduce inequality within and among countries.

Specific actions taken: 

• Talking about gender diversity and inclusion in Canadian education
• University of Ottawa Launches Health Equity for the Aged Lab
• Making careers in computing more inclusive for women
• CFI to fund the creation of a unique lab to research Indigenous knowledge and well-being

News articles:

• Bringing reconciliation education and resources to the classroom   
• Can’t Compute: A New Book that Brings us Closer to an Equitable Digital World
• Advancing Inclusive Education: New Accessibility Tools Now Available to the uOttawa Community (Texthelp Read&Write and OrbitNote)
• Professor Delphine Nakache Recognized for Impactful Research on Immigration and Citizenship 

Research papers:

• Socio-economic and cultural factors associated with the utilization of maternal healthcare services in Togo: a cross-sectional study (Reproductive Health, 2023)
• Socioeconomic inequalities and determinants of health care utilization in Botswana: a decomposition analysis (Journal of Public Health (Germany), 2023)
• Humanitarian and Compassionate Applications: A Critical Look at Canadian Decision-Makers' Assessment of Claims from"Vulnerable" Applicants (Laws, 2022)
• Incidence, Racial Disparities and Factors Related to Psychosis among Black Individuals in Canada: A Scoping Review; [Incidence, disparités raciales et facteurs liés à la psychose chez les personnes noires au Canada : un examen de la portée] (Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 2023)
• Melanin levels in relation to vitamin D among first-generation immigrants from different ethnic groups and origins: A comparative national Canadian cross-sectional study (Frontiers in Medicine, 2023)

SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

Brief description: Making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.

Specific actions taken: 

• LEED Certified Buildings
• uOttawa improving campus sustainability with addition of 20 Level 2 electric vehicle charging stations
• Urban biodiversity programs

News articles: 

• Academic peers join uOttawa & City to expand CityStudio Ottawa's transformative projects
• Tackling food waste: A recipe for change
• The University of Ottawa Library co-hosts The 2024 IDEAL Conference
• U7+ Student Challenge on Addressing Sustainable Development Goals hosted by uOttawa

Research papers:

• Design Guidelines for Cooperative UAV-supported Services and Applications (ACM Computing Surveys, 2022)
• Municipal and neighbourhood level wastewater surveillance and subtyping of an influenza virus outbreak (Scientific Reports, 2022)
• Local plant richness predicts bee abundance and diversity in a study of urban residential yards (Basic and Applied Ecology, 2022)
• The Feasibility of Reuse in the Concrete Industry (Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering, 2023)
• IoDMix: A novel routing protocol for Delay-Tolerant Internet of Drones integration in Intelligent Transportation System (Ad Hoc Networks, 2023)

SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

Brief description: Ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns.

Specific actions taken: 

• Furniture Reuse Program
• Waste diversion programs

News articles:

• Corporate social responsibility: Why family businesses get more bang for their buck than non-family firms
• Inaugural Ian R. Kerr Fellow Seeks Balance Between Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights in Africa

Research papers:

• Extractives Companies’ Social Media Portrayals of Their Funding of Sport for Development in Indigenous Communities in Canada and Australia (Communication and Sport, 2022)
• The clean label trend: An ineffective heuristic that disserves both consumers and the food industry? (Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, 2022)
• Corporate social responsibility spending as a building block for sustainable corporate ethical identity: Lessons from Indian business groups (Managerial and Decision Economics, 2022)
• Lost in Corporate Translation: How Firms Mediate between Social Mobilization and Regulatory Intervention in the Extractive Sector (Latin American Politics and Society, 2023)
• Sport for Sustainability? The Extractives Industry, Sport, and Sustainable Development (Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 2022)

SDG 13: Climate Action

Brief description: Taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

Specific actions taken: 

• uOttawa divests from fossil fuel holdings
• Climate Action

News articles:

• Education as a driver for climate action
• Weathering climate change: uOttawa receives $1M from TD Ready Challenge for new mitigation initiative to benefit Indigenous communities
• Meet engineering alumna Vida Gabriel, an entrepreneur under 30 tackling carbon capture
• Sun, smog, and snow: climate-heating El Niño’s impact on Canadian summer
• British Columbia's historic drought conditions
• Common law students called for the appointment of UN High Commissioner and the establishment of a UN Commission on Climate Change 

Research papers:

• Preparing for Collapse: The Concerning Rise of “Eco-Survivalism” (Capitalism, Nature, Socialism, 2022)
• Last chance tourism: a decade review of a case study on Churchill, Manitoba’s polar bear viewing industry (Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 2023)
• Human vulnerability and variability in the cold: Establishing individual risks for cold weather injuries (Temperature, 2022)
• Assessing climate and human activity effects on lake characteristics using spatio-temporal satellite data and an emotional neural network (Environmental Earth Sciences, 2022)
• No room to manoeuvre: bringing together political ecology and resilience to understand community-based adaptation decision making (Climate and Development, 2022)

SDG 14: Life Below Water

Brief description: Conserving and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development.

Specific actions taken: Environmental monitoring

News articles: 

• Wastewater monitoring research aims to enhance TB prevention and detection in Nunavut
• Rising waters, rising solutions: Redefining flood preparedness with AI
• “A major legal achievement in tackling today’s ocean challenges”: Monim Benaissa examines the High Seas Treaty

Research papers:

• Two-Eyed Seeing: Developing perspective and wisdom on sea lamprey in the Laurentian Great Lakes (Journal of Great Lakes Research, 2023)
• Community-identified risks to hunting, fishing, and gathering (harvesting) activities from increased marine shipping activity in Inuit Nunangat, Canada (Regional Environmental Change, 2022)
• Are fur farms a potential source of persistent organic pollutants or mercury to nearby freshwater ecosystems? (Science of the Total Environment, 2022)
• Lagrangian Modeling of Marine Microplastics Fate and Transport: The State of the Science (Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 2022)
• Pharmaceuticals in the marine environment: occurrence, fate, and biological effects (Contaminants of Emerging Concern in the Marine Environment: Current Challenges in Marine Pollution, 2023)

SDG 15: Life and Land

Brief description: Protecting, restoring, and promoting sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.

Specific actions taken: Nature Positive Pledge

News articles:

• Drought and wildfire concerns rise as Canada navigates a shift from El Niño to La Niña
• Wildlife mitigating measures no help for Ottawa’s freshwater turtles

Research papers:

• Variation in habitat use and its consequences for mercury exposure in two Eastern Ontario bat species, Myotis lucifugus and Eptesicus fuscus (Ecotoxicology, 2023)
• Local plant richness predicts bee abundance and diversity in a study of urban residential yards (Basic and Applied Ecology, 2022)
• Lack of evidence for the match-mismatch hypothesis across terrestrial trophic interactions (Ecology Letters, 2023)
• Climate change aggravates non-target effects of pesticides on dragonflies at macroecological scales (Ecological Applications, 2022)
• Exploring the effect of 195 years-old locks on species movement: landscape genetics of painted turtles in the Rideau Canal, Canada (Conservation Genetics, 2022)

SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Brief description: Promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels.

Specific actions taken: uOttawa joins other global universities to call on G7 leaders to prioritize and advance peace and security

News articles:

• uOttawa Law in the Heart of Canada’s Legal Community
• Decolonizing Legal Learning: Moving forward on Call to Action 28 at the Common Law Section
• Strategy to realizing primary care for all 
• When Indigenous Wisdom Meets Management Studies: A Resounding Call for Change

Research papers:

• The Traumatizing Impact of Racism in Canadians of Colour (Current Trauma Reports, 2022)
• White Collar Crime: Unearthing Collusion in the Procurement of Infrastructure Projects (IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 2022)
• Lethal Violence in Civil War: Trends and Micro-Dynamics of Violence in the Northern Mali Conflict (2012-2015) (Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 2023)
• 'We have tried to remain warm despite the rules.' Domestic violence and COVID-19: implications for shelters' policies and practices (Journal of Gender-Based Violence, 2022)
• War in Ukraine and Racism: The Physical and Mental Health of Refugees of Color Matters (International Journal of Public Health, 2022)

SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

Brief description: Strengthening the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.

Specific actions taken: 

• The University of Ottawa and McMaster University join forces to prepare Canada for future pandemics
• Building on over 15 years of collaboration
• French research institution opens Canadian office at uOttawa

News articles:

• Innovative partnership between academia, industry and the government to ensure Canada is prepared for pandemics
• uOttawa partners with federal government and teachers to improve mental health of Canadian educators
• The role of accounting in solving grand challenges