100 key research questions for the post‐2015 development agenda

Abstract

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) herald a new phase for international development. This article presents the results of a consultative exercise to collaboratively identify 100 research questions of critical importance for the post‐2015 international development agenda. The final shortlist is grouped into nine thematic areas and was selected by 21 representatives of international and non‐governmental organisations and consultancies, and 14 academics with diverse disciplinary expertise from an initial pool of 704 questions submitted by 110 organisations based in 34 countries. The shortlist includes questions addressing long‐standing problems, new challenges and broader issues related to development policies, practices and institutions. Collectively, these questions are relevant for future development‐related research priorities of governmental and non‐governmental organisations worldwide and could act as focal points for transdisciplinary research collaborations.

Identifying future research directions for biodiversity, ecosystem services and sustainability: perspectives from early-career researchers

“…Environmental sustainability, food security) (Oldekop et al 2016), conservation and management (Fleishman et al 2011).…”

“…Both examples (Oldekop et al 2016;Sutherland et al 2008) from existing horizon scanning exercises did not link social systems with ecological systems explicitly, beyond some questions related to social and economic components. The dynamic relationships between biodiversity, ecosystem and sustainability were not addressed simultaneously.…”

“…In addition, we also compared between our results to those obtained by other relevant horizon scanning exercises (e.g. Oldekop et al 2016;Fleishman et al 2011 and;Sutherland et al 2008) from existing publications relating to biodiversity, post-2015 development agendas (e.g. environmental sustainability, food security), conservation and management.…”

Winning the SDG battle in cities: how an integrated information ecosystem can contribute to the achievement of the 2030 sustainable development goals

“…Our intention is to present research outcomes that will have an immediate impact on the future direction of IS research and will also assist city managers in responding to the challenges presented by the SDGs. Recognizing that ‘the impact of solution‐based research approaches depends on how the academic community is able to collaboratively engage with problems faced by practitioners and policy‐makers’ (Oldekop et al, , p. 57), we have chosen to concentrate our investigation on two environment‐related SDG targets relevant to cities: quality drinking water (Target 6.1) and public green spaces (Target 11.7). Using these two targets to bound our research context permits us to engage deeply with the problems faced in practice, while also allowing us to elaborate on the role of IS in building smart sustainable cities at a broader level.…”

Defining the research agenda to measure and reduce tuberculosis stigmas

“…However, the capacity to measure and evaluate the success of these interventions needs to be fostered. [5][6][7][8] To begin to address this gap, an expert meeting took place in May 2016 to discuss the measurement issues surrounding TB stigma. This article outlines a research agenda for improving the measurement of and action on TB stigma, and is a product of that meeting.…”