The United Nations is committed to the Sustainable Development Goals as policies that transcend national concerns. What do universities contribute to these global priorities? This open discussion is convened by the Centre for Science and Policy with the Cambridge Global Challenges Initiative to question the structure and purpose of science policy on a global scale.

Discussion of open science, global investment, critical university studies and other perspectives will be led by a panel including past Royal Society Foreign Secretary Sir Brian Heap, International Council for Science and CSaP policy fellow Charles Ebikeme, OpenPlant coordinator Jenny Molloy and historian of intellectual labour Alison Wood.

Discussion will be chaired by Nicola Buckley from the Centre for Science and Policy, and Alan Blackwell, research director of the Cambridge Global Challenges Initiative.

Discussion will be open, with invitation to consider topics including:

• What do policy makers contribute to science?
• What impedes scientific contributions to sustainability?
• Should poor nations pay for curiosity-driven research?
• Can science be sustainable without universities?
• Will sustainable science be concentrated or dispersed?
• To solve problems, do we need science policy, or engineering policy?
• If science is owned by the people who pay for it, who should be rewarded?

All are welcome. Pre-booking is available here.