The universities which are getting behind sustainability
The 2026 Research magazine has mapped Australia’s university-based research effort, and found the universities which give most support to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Since 2015, when the United Nations announced its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, they have been an accepted yardstick for estimating progress in building sustainability in the widest sense, encompassing environmental, social, equity and governance issues.
We have used 16 of the goals to measure how well the research conducted at Australian universities is aligned to making progress on sustainability.
The only one we have left out is goal number 17, which is about partnerships to achieve the goals and that’s more about implementation than undertaking research to support them.
We have objectively analysed the extent to which the research undertaken at each Australian university in the last five years aligns to the remaining 16 UN Sustainable Development Goals. For each goal we list the top five universities whose research has supported that goal and one research case study in that area.
We found the top five universities whose research supported each of these 16 UN Sustainable Development Goals by gathering data on how many research papers each university had produced in the last five years which were aligned with each goal, and then we assessed the impact of these papers.
Our starting point was the mass of data about research papers available from the not-for-profit platform OpenAlex — which was named in homage to the ancient Library of Alexandria.
Using AI, OpenAlex maps the world’s published research papers to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Our partner, research analytics firm League of Scholars, extracted data to yield a matrix which showed how many research papers were published in the past five years by each Australian university which aligned to each of the UN SDGs. (Note that a paper can map to more than one SDG.)
Then, to ensure that we took into account the quality and impact of research, not just the volume of papers, we counted the citations gathered by each paper.
For each of the SDGs, we ranked universities by the number of times their papers associated with that SDG had been cited. In this way we we identified the five leading universities for each goal.
Here are the top five universities which have given research support to each of the first 16 United Nations Sustainable Development goals.
Tim Dodd is the editor of The Australian’s 2026 Research magazine.
GOAL 1
No poverty
Top five universities
Monash
Uni of Melbourne
UNSW Sydney
Uni of Queensland
Uni of Sydney
Research case study
Economist Russell Smyth, from Monash University’s Business School where he is deputy dean (research), is a prolific researcher on many topics including the links between “energy poverty” – the inability to afford the necessary fuel and other energy to meet basic needs – and other measures of wellbeing.
Among factors linked with a higher likelihood of energy poverty are high crime rates, low education achievement and childhood adversity. His work has also linked energy poverty with a greater likelihood of voting for right wing populist political parties.
Professor Smyth, who has also examined the affect of ethnic polarisation on poverty, has found that good economic policies alone are not sufficient to reduce poverty and that ethnic and linguistic fractionalisation can increase poverty. Policymakers must also pay attention to the social environment, he says.
GOAL 2
Zero hunger
Top five universities
Deakin
Uni of Queensland
Monash
Uni of Melbourne
Uni of Sydney
Research case study
Deakin University’s Fiona McKay has a strong research record on hunger and food insecurity.
Associate Professor McKay, from the university’s Institute for Health Transformation, has researched food-related issues for many groups in the community, including children, pregnant women and mothers.
In her recent research she has investigated hunger in Australian families with children, the relationship between food insecurity and family violence, and the response of the Australian welfare system to those who need food assistance.
She has also reviewed commercially available meal kits and found that – while they are convenient, easy to prepare and reduce food waste – high levels of salt and fat make them unsuitable for being a regular part of a healthy diet.
GOAL 3
Good health and wellbeing
Top five universities
RMIT
UNSW Sydney
Deakin
Adelaide
Monash
Research case study
In her research Monica Barratt, an associate professor at RMIT University, studies emerging trends in drug use, particularly focusing on the use of psychoactive substances; the testing of drugs for harm reduction; cannabis cultivation; and access to drugs online. She is committed to ensuring her research has an impact outside academia.
Associate Professor Barratt is also the Australian lead for the Global Drug Survey, and she is the executive director of Bluelight.org, a global drug harm reduction community.
GOAL 4
Quality education
Top five universities
Curtin
Monash
UWA
Uni of Queensland
UNSW Sydney
Research case study
Professor Kok-Sing Tang of Curtin University is an education researcher with a particular specialty in the use of generative AI in education.
He recognises that the emergence of generative AI leads to new possibilities for personalised learning, digital tutoring and the generation of content, but teachers report limited use of the new technology because of policies restricting its use and a lack of training.
Professor Tang is the co-editor-in-chief of the journal Research in Science Education. In 2024, he received the Humanities Research Excellence Award for his work on the use of AI in education.
GOAL 5
Gender equality
Top five universities
Griffith
UNSW Sydney
Uni of Melbourne
Monash
Uni of Sydney
Research case study
Adele Pavlidis is an associate professor in sociology at Griffith University who focuses her research on gender and power relations in sport and leisure. She sees sport as a key area of change in Australian society, where attitudes towards women are changing and being challenged.
She aims to connect social, cultural and health concepts in sport with the goal of making society more inclusive in the future. She is vice-president of the Australian Women and Gender Studies Association, and sits on the editorial boards of the Sociology of Sport Journal and another journal, Leisure Sciences.
Prior to her academic career Associate Professor Pavlidis worked in the community sector as a drug and alcohol worker and a youth worker.
GOAL 6
Clean water and sanitation
Top five universities
UNSW Sydney
RMIT
Uni of Queensland
Monash
Uni of Melbourne
Research case study
UNSW’s David Waite, CEO of the university’s Centre for Transformational Environmental Technologies, has made major contributions to environmental chemistry. He has been awarded more than $16 million in research funding for his work on water quality and treatment technologies.
He is a Scientia Professor and he also leads the UNSW Biogeochemical Engineering, Management and Systems research group, which aims to prevent environmental degradation and increase human health.
He says his goal is to undertake biogeochemical research to improve the understanding of natural aquatic systems for the purpose of preventing environmental degradation and finding solutions to the challenges in water supply and health.
GOAL 7
Affordable and clean energy
Top five universities
Adelaide
Curtin
Swinburne
QUT
Deakin
Research case study
Adelaide University’s Nataliia Sergiienko and her colleagues are at the forefront of developing ocean wave power as a source of renewable energy. Unlike solar or wind, it’s almost 24/7, and it can reduce storm erosion of coastlines.
“Wave energy converters work by removing energy from waves, which significantly decreases the height of waves that propagate towards the shore,” Dr Sergiienko says.
Wave energy converters could also protect offshore infrastructure, such as floating wind farms, from wave damage.
GOAL 8
Decent work and economic growth
Top five universities
Griffith
Uni of Queensland
Monash
Uni of Melbourne
UNSW Sydney
Research case study
Griffith University’s Brent Moyle has a passion for improving economic conditions in remote Australian communities through tourism.
He says his long periods living and researching in remote regions has given him a deep understanding of the challenges faced by isolated communities.
“I have become successful in leveraging my academic knowledge of sustainable tourism to conceptualise, advocate and lead the development of major tourism attractions, which have positive impacts on the economy, society, and the natural environment of these remote Australian communities,” he says.
“I proudly regard myself as a community-responsive academic who can traverse the delicate balance between generation of new theory and the implementation of practical outcomes designed to regenerate Australia’s remote regions.”
GOAL 9
Industry, innovation and infrastructure
Top five universities
Deakin
UTS
UNSW Sydney
RMIT
QUT
Research case study
Deakin University’s Jemal Abawajy is a leading researcher on cyber risk, the internet of things, cloud computing and its offshoot, fog computing, in which the processing takes place closer to the user, reducing the latency time.
His research is being applied to improving transport systems, including self-drive cars, tele health and health apps, cybersecurity, block chain efficiency and reducing the risk posed to encryption systems by quantum computing.
GOAL 10
Reduced inequalities
Top five universities
UTS
Deakin
Monash
Uni of Sydney
Uni of Queensland
Research case study
Kirsten Thorpe, from the University of Technology Sydney, leads the university’s Indigenous Archives and Data Stewardship Hub, which advocates for Indigenous rights in archive and data management. It also works with libraries and archives to support culturally appropriate ownership, management, and ongoing preservation of Indigenous knowledge.
During her career, she has been supported in many projects involving the return of historic collections to Indigenous people, and the revitalisation of Indigenous languages. Her doctorate within the information technology faculty at Monash University examined Indigenous self-determination and sovereignty over the management of Indigenous knowledge.
At UTS, she is also a Chancellor’s Indigenous Research Fellow at Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research.
GOAL 11
Sustainable cities and communities
Top five universities
UTS
QUT
RMIT
UNSW Sydney
Uni of Queensland
Research case study
Chengqing Wu is a professor of structural engineering at the University of Technology Sydney who has made major contributions to building and structural safety.
He is recognised for his research on the effects of blast-induced ground vibrations, the structural response to blast loading, the mitigation of blast effects on structures, the blast resistance of ultra-high performance concrete, rock blasting and traffic barrier response to vehicle impact.
He has also conducted research into using 3D printing techniques to build concrete structures.
One of his recent papers evaluates the use of high-strength concrete to build structures on the Moon and on Mars, particularly looking at the material’s ability to withstand the large variations in temperature experienced on those celestial bodies.
GOAL 12
Responsible consumption and production
Top five universities
Adelaide
Curtin
UNSW Sydney
UTS
RMIT
Research case study
Adelaide University’s Volker Hessel is a world leader in continuous flow chemistry, which allows the chemical industry to operate with improved efficiency, higher safety, less waste and reduced environmental impact.
In continuous flow chemistry, pumps move liquids through small tubes giving more control over the reaction, compared to traditional batch chemistry, where ingredients are mixed in a large vessel which is then emptied and cleaned before the next batch is mixed.
Professor Hessel’s work includes using tiny, extremely hot streams of plasma to drive chemical reactions to make ammonia, a key ingredient of fertiliser, in a way that reduces energy consumption and emissions of carbon dioxide.
GOAL 13
Climate action
Top five universities
Uni of Melbourne
ANU
UNSW Sydney
Uni of Queensland
Monash
Research case study
The University of Melbourne’s Andrew King is a highly recognised climate scientist investigating the effects of global warming and the changes needed to reach a net zero level of carbon dioxide emissions.
His work investigates global warming’s impact on rainfall, the prevalence of heatwaves and the time it will take for the climate to stabilise if net zero is achieved.
In a recent paper, he says that climate changes will take many centuries to play out after net zero is reached, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere.
In his work he has also says the rate of warming is accelerating and that a large proportion of the world’s poorest people could bear the brunt of a sudden rise in temperatures.
GOAL 14
Life below water
Top five universities
UNSW Sydney
Uni of Tasmania
James Cook
Uni of Queensland
Uni of Melbourne
Research case study
A key interest of UNSW oceanographer Moninya Roughan is modelling the East Australian Current, the ocean current that travels south on Australia’s east coast carrying warm water from the tropics.
Her research around the current includes ocean circulation dynamics, the spread of nutrients and their biological impact and ocean warming trends.
She played a major role in the development of Australia’s Integrated Marine Observing System, which collects comprehensive ocean data from many sources that can be accessed by researchers in Australia and overseas.
GOAL 15
Life on land
Top five universities
Monash
Uni of Queensland
UNSW Sydney
Uni of Sydney
Uni of Melbourne
Research case study
Monash University engineer Jeffrey Walker is an expert on using remote sensing to gather data on soil moisture. His doctoral thesis at the University of Newcastle was part of the pioneering research on estimating root zone soil moisture levels via remote sensing.
He contributes to soil moisture monitoring from space, working with both NASA and the European Space Agency. His work also includes using remote sensing to improve existing agricultural practices and to increase sustainability by providing data on crop and soil health to optimise irrigation and nutrient use, and to deal with weeds and diseases.
GOAL 16
Peace, justice and strong institutions
Top five universities
Adelaide
UTS
Macquarie
Deakin
Uni of Queensland
Research case study
Adelaide University legal academic Laura Grenfell focuses much of her research on human rights law, where she has three main interests.
One is to examine how parliament and executive government engage with human rights issues when they are in the process of developing new law and policy.
Another is to research issues of governance and human rights protection in post-conflict environments. She has specifically researched the situation in Timor Leste, South Africa and Afghanistan.
A third area of her expertise is anti-discrimination laws in Australia, North America and Europe. Here, she has particularly focused on how the law deals with discrimination experienced by the trans community.
