In 2019, Springer Nature partnered with The Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU) and its sister organisation UKB, to jointly explore and answer the question “Is open research facilitating progress on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)”? In this interview, we talk to Timon Oeflein on our Account Development team, about the background and findings of this partnership, and his role in facilitating it. 

April 2020 | Lately there have been a number of media reports highlighting a call for a radical rethink in climate change policies in the face of the current worldwide health crisis, and voices in the research community are proposing ways to rebuild our economy in a cleaner and more sustainable way. There is no denying that we are currently facing one of the biggest health crises in a long time. The question is; how will this impact our actions in the future?

July 2018 | Over a series of articles, we’ll be exploring the role Springer Nature's Journals are playing in tackling specific Sustainable Development Goals, but also how their diverse natural science and social science remit is seeing them address the much broader challenges that make up the programme. In this interview, find out how Nature Energy is publishing research that explores approaches to energy generation, storage, distribution and the impact of these on society and the planet.

September 2019 | Academic institutions are at the forefront of the sustainable development movement, producing research, that can provide the basis for new policies. UCL’s response to the Sustainable Development goals is called Grand Challenges (GC) and started in 2008 with the aim to address six grand challenges faced globally, using their influence and network both in the academic and industrial scene.

September 2018 | The newest Nature Research journal, Nature Sustainability, blends natural, social and engineering research fields to support new policies and deliver actionable solutions to sustainability challenges. chief Editor, Monica Contestabile, talks to us about how the journal intersects with almost every one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, with a particular interest in sustainable cities and sustainable food systems.

May 2018 | Inspired by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, Springer Nature’s Grand Challenges Programme launched in 2017 with an initial focus on five global challenges: climate change, global health, the food–energy–water nexus, a digitally transformed world and sustainable cities. We spoke to Mariette DiChristina, Executive Vice President of Editorial and Publishing for Nature Research Magazines and Editor-in-Chief of Scientific American, to get her insights into how the Grand Challenges Programme has grown over the past 18 months.

October 2018 | Launched in 2011, Nature Climate Change is one of several thematic Nature Research journals spanning the physical, social and life sciences. As well as Climate Action, it addresses many more of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, including: Affordable and Clean Energy, Responsible Consumption and Production, Life Below Water, Life on Land, Health, Innovation and Communities. In this article we talk to Chief Editor of Nature Climate Change, Bronwyn Wake, about the journal’s mission to advance research in the field of climate change, challenge the views of its readers, and effect real world change.

Open research is changing the way that researchers communicate and collaborate and supports the pace and quality of discovery. This has led to the emergence of new and dynamic open research-driven workflows are emerging which are making it easier to find, access and reuse results.

September 2018 | With global urban populations continuing to grow (UN DESA, 2018), many of the challenges associated with sustainability and human well-being will play out across the world’s towns and cities. Within Springer’s Earth Sciences, Geography, & Environment Department, is a dedicated Urban Studies & Urban Geography programme whose mission is to be at the forefront of research that both informs and helps to sustain the global community. 

July 2018 | Over a series of articles, we’ll be exploring the role Springer Nature Research Journals are playing in tackling specific Sustainable Development Goals, but also how their diverse natural science and social science remit is seeing them address the much broader challenges that make up the programme. In this interview, find out how the broad range of fundamental research covered in Nature Ecology & Evolution impacts almost every one of Springer Nature's Grand Challenges goals, with biodiversity and the global consequences of its depletion connecting all of the journal’s subject areas.