How do universities communicate their contributions towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals?

In their recently published article, Burcu Ozgun, Nils Grashof, Holger Graf, and Tom Broekel ask how intensively universities communicate Sustainable Development Goals-related topics, what characteristics of universities explain differences in this communication & how has the relationship between Sustainable Development Goals-related research and its communication changed over time?

Ozgun, Burcu; Grashof, Nils; Graf, Holger; Broekel, Tom (2026): Authenticity or strategy? How universities communicate the Sustainable Development Goals. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 13 (1), Article 740. DOI: 10.1057/s41599-026-07714-x.

Universities play a crucial role in advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through education, research, and public engagement. This study examines how universities communicate their contributions to the SDGs, analyzing over 100,000 press releases and more than 2 million publications from 76 German institutions across two decades.

The findings of the study reveal significant variation in SDG-related communication acrossinstitutions, with the most active universities communicating up to five times more intenselythan the average.

Importantly, the authors observe a weakening of the historical link between SDG-focused research and communication efforts over time, suggesting a shift toward more strategic outreach practices.