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Latest Sustainable Development Goals Progress Report
Monash Progress Report 2022
Monash Progress Report 2022 – Goal 9

Monash Progress Report 2022 – Goal 9

Monash University Progress Report 2022 on the Sustainable Development Goals

Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation.

Research

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2022 Publications Performance View

Number of Monash Research Outputs: 305

Mean Field Weighted Citation Impact of Monash Outputs: 1.75

3 Year Rolling Mean FWCI of Monash Outputs: 1.70

Responsible Sourcing Decisions under an Emissions Trading Scheme View

Monash Business School researchers are leading the design and development of novel operational models to study how manufacturers make strategic production and sourcing decisions under an emissions trading scheme. This research is helping organisations to reduce their carbon footprint and improve their bottom lines. Expected outcomes of this research include the development of a sustainable electricity ecosystem that can provide more reliable, low-cost energy supplies to consumers.

Robots in Agriculture View

Researchers in the Faculty of Arts are leading an Australian Research Council (ARC) funded project that explores the social, ethical, and regulatory issues raised by technology innovation in agricultural production of food, particularly the shift to automatisation.

The increasing use of robots and automated machinery in agriculture have the potential to disrupt rural communities and break long-held patterns of workforce participation. The Robots in Agriculture project has focused on exploring these issues in Australia in 2022, building links with rural communities throughout Australia to understand the human impacts of this shift toward robots in agriculture.

Robots in Agriculture

Other SDGs:

Pollution in Chinese Cities View

China’s vehicle population has increased dramatically over recent decades as a consequence of rapid urbanisation and market liberalisation. This leads to significant increases in carbon emissions and air pollution. Researchers in the Centre for Development Economics and Sustainability, Monash Business School, have measured the effect of opening a high-speed rail line on air pollution along major highways linking the Chinese megacities of Chengdu and Chongqing. Their research showed that air pollution was reduced by 7.6 per cent along the main affected highway as a consequence of the rail line opening.

Other SDGs:

Monash-SEU Joint Research Institutes View

Monash University and its partner Southeast University have established five Joint Research Institutes (JRIs) at Monash Suzhou, in the areas of:

future cities;
energy and environment;
advanced materials and manufacturing;
advanced computation in science and engineering: and
life sciences.

A sixth multi-disciplinary centre in sustainable development will open in 2023. Each joint research institute fosters collaboration with SEU researchers and top R&D partners in the region to address Monash University’s sustainability agenda.

Other SDGs:

Education

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Unit Statistics and Highlights View

In 2022, 265 units directly related to SDG9 were offered across Monash University, with a total enrolment of 15,287 individual students.

The units highlighted below are a small sample of the units at Monash relating to industry, innovation and infrastructure:

FIT1055: IT professional practice and ethics
BEX3411: Building start-ups with impact
ATS2184: Intercultural skills for an internationalised workplace

Advanced Architecture Studies 1-4 View

Hosted by Monash Art, Design and Architecture, the series of Master of Architecture studies is connected to the Net Zero Precincts initiative and forms a test case of how communities can transition to decarbonised precincts, starting at Monash University’s Clayton Campus.

Students enrolled in the Advanced Architecture series (units ARC4501, ARC4502, ARC5501, ARC5502) analyse existing buildings on the Clayton Campus and communicate analysis outcomes using various mapping techniques that capture the data’s complexity. The units then explore crossovers between the technical, practical and social aspects of the campus and experiment with architectural design interventions that go beyond Net Zero towards resilience and regeneration.

Entrepreneurial Mindsets and Capabilities View

Entrepreneurship and innovation are driven by our ability to interrogate the world around us and think critically to identify challenges and opportunities worth exploring. The Monash Business School unit BEX2411 Entrepreneurial Mindsets and Capabilities – one of the integrating units in the Bachelor of Business, focusing on complex issues and wicked problems – provides students with practical knowledge and hands-on experience in problem exploration, using design-driven, innovation-focused research and analysis tools and techniques.

Engagement

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International Sustainability Transitions Conference View

In 2022, MSDI co-hosted the International Sustainability Transitions Conference with Stellenbosch University (South Africa) and Georgetown University (US). This was the 13th annual conference and the first time it had been hosted outside of Europe or Canada. The unique model for this year’s conference provided a mix of online sessions and in-person days in the three regional locations. The conference delivered over 300 presentations on sustainability transitions research topics to help us understand the challenges and opportunities of sustainable and just transitions across different contexts and scales. Around 350 people attended the online sessions. And around 70 people attended the full day, in-person event hosted by Monash in Melbourne.

IST-melbourne-inperson-day

Other SDGs:

Net Zero Precincts View

The Net Zero Precincts Project is a collaborative partnership with Engie, the City Councils of Monash and Greater Dandenong, CSIRO, ICLEI, the Energy Efficiency Council (Australia), and Swinburne University to support urban regions in achieving their net zero targets. By leveraging the Monash Technology Precinct as an ideal scale for urban transition, the project combines the fields of transition management and design anthropology, utilising a living lab approach to pioneer strategies for guiding cities worldwide to net zero.

In 2022, the University completed stage 1 of the Net Zero Precincts Australian Research Council (ARC) project (2021 to 2025). An essential component during stage 1 was co-mapping the system to identify drivers and barriers to achieving net zero. The research involved conducting interviews with 30 members of the precinct community, as well as engaging with 25 frontrunners, including Monash University staff and students, local and state government representatives, and individuals from the SME, corporate, NGO, and social enterprise sectors.

Net Zero Precinct

Other SDGs:

RACE for 2030 - Decision Engine to Support the Path to Net Zero View

Monash is the lead Victorian research institution in the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Reliable Affordable Clean Energy (RACE) for 2030. Funded with $68.5 million of Commonwealth funds and $280 million of cash and in-kind contributions from our partners, the CRC addresses one of Australia’s major challenges – delivering reliable, affordable and clean energy services for consumers and businesses.

A cross-disciplinary partnership between the Faculty of Information Technology, Faculty of Engineering, Monash Business School, the Monash Grid Innovation Hub, Monash Sustainable Development Institute and the Monash Energy Institute is working to amplify Monash’s research impact in the energy sector. Monash is also leading the RACE for Networks program, which is working to optimise Australia’s electricity grid through customer distributed energy resources and network integration.

Other SDGs:

Australia China Science and Innovation Forum View

Monash Suzhou hosted the Australia China Science and Innovation Forum at Suzhou Industrial Park in July 2022. Sponsored by the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations, the hybrid online and in-person event was attended by representatives of Monash Suzhou Medical Research Institute, Centre for Commercialisation of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) Australia and National Innovation Centre of Excellence (Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute), together with more than 200 academics, experts and business leaders in the region.

Suzhou-monash-blue

Other SDGs:

Zero Emission Bus - Living Lab View

Monash University is contributing to the effort to reduce carbon and particulate emissions generated from public transport, by partnering with ComfortDelGro Corporation Australia (CDC) to trial electric buses.

The Zero Emission Bus Trial is an interdisciplinary research project that includes the collaborative work of the Mobility Design Lab at Monash Art, Design and Architecture alongside colleagues from the Business, IT, and Engineering faculties. In addition to CDC Victoria, the project is conducted in collaboration with industry partners, Volvo Group Australia, Volgren, ENGIE, Vicinity Centres and TSA Advisory, with funding by the Department of Transport (Victoria). The project seeks to establish a living lab at Monash University Clayton and the CDC Victoria Oakleigh depot to test eight electric buses over three years on a mix of shuttle and neighbourhood bus routes. Data and knowledge from this trial will develop local industry guidance to confidently electrify urban bus routes and accelerate the decarbonisation of public transport.

Monash Clayton bus terminal

Other SDGs:

Operations

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Building to Environmentally Sustainable Design Standards View

Monash University has undertaken a vast amount of work to develop an overarching strategy that encompasses deep energy efficiency measures within the existing estate, as well as voluntary certification standards (such as Passive House or Green Star) for new builds. Monash University is a signatory to the World Green Building Council’s (World GBC) Net Zero CarbonBuildings Commitment (2018). The Monash Design and Construction Standards (MDCS) outline the minimum environmentally sustainable design (ESD) standards, required for all refurbishments and new builds.