Social Impact - BRU-IUL

BRU-IUL’s commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals

BRU-IUL is very involved in ISCTE-IUL’s efforts to promote and contribute to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our researchers Catarina Roseta Palma (Economics research group) and Ana Margarida Simaens (Accounting, Marketing & Management research group) are members of the Coordination Team of the Sustainability@ISCTE-IULproject, being respectively President and Coordinator for the Prosperity Dimension.

Fully endorsing the ISCTE-IUL’s Sustainability Policy for Research, BRU-IUL collaborated with the Planning, Sustainability and Quality Office to collect verifiable information relating to the impact of our research outputs towards the SDGs for the first edition ofTHE University Impact Rankings. This new ranking from the Times Higher Education (THE) aims to assess Higher Education Institutions’ performance in delivering the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

In addition, taking advantage of the new possibilities made available by ISCTE-IUL’s information systems, we have encouraged our researchers to identify the relevant SDGs (up to 3 goals per contribution) to each of their research outputs over the past 5 years.

For the period 2013-2018, BRU-IUL researchers have listed 343 publications and 9 projects as contributing to specific Sustainable Development Goals.

Contribution of BRU-IUL’s research publications to the SDGs for the period 2013-2018

The Unit’s research outputs contribute mostly to SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth with 155 publications and 6 projects, followed by SDG 9 – Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure with 95 publications and 1 project, SDG 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production with 85 publications, and finally SDG 3 – Good Health and Well-being with 52 publications and 3 projects.

SDGs for which BRU-IUL research contributes the most (2013-2018)

In November 2018, BRU-IUL signed a collaboration agreement with ACT – Autoridade para as Condições do Trabalho (Portuguese Authority for Work Conditions) to implement a project on the evaluation of psychosocial risks at work. This project is being developed by researcher Sílvia Silvafrom the Organizational Behavior & Human Resources group.

In 2018, Nelson Ramalho, researcher from the Organizational Behavior & Human Resources group, was responsible for the design of scientific procedures and methods in an applied research project targeting the evaluation of social responsibility impact of a public institution. This project was funded by INCM – Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda, within its framework for collaborative R&D projects, “Innovation Network”.

In 2018,Nádia Simões of the Economics group has participated as an expert in the project “Ensuring labour market relevant VET”, of the European Centre of Expertise and the European Commission. She was involved in the process of comparing the characteristics of the vocational education and training systems of a group of countries of the European Union.

In 2018, Ilídio Lopes, researcher of the Accounting, Marketing & Management Group, contributed as advisor for the Tribunal da Concorrência, Regulação e Supervisão(Competition, Regulation and Supervision Court), providing his expertise in judicial processes in the fields of Auditing, Accounting and Bank Supervision.

Since 2016, Marta Bicho, researcher of the Accounting, Marketing & Management Group, has contributed as an expert in the regulatory group of non-conventional medicine of the national Health System Central Administration (ACSS).

This limited series of Highlights illustrates examples of impact on society of research carried out at BRU-IUL. Bridging expertise across disciplines, promoting integration beyond the university level, and engaging academic into practical problem-solving are some ways in which academics can better reach and influence society.