Project History
In a continuous project since 2024, KAUST, the United Nations Development Programme, and Frontiers for Young Minds launched “The SDG Collection: How Science Can Help Us To Achieve The Sustainable Development Goals”.
This educational resource is designed to inspire the next generation to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through science and technology. It features engaging articles written by scientists for children, along with interactive live events and video interviews between kids and researchers, making the complex world of sustainability accessible and engaging to children worldwide.
Aimed at promoting regional inclusion in scientific literacy and exposing children to the importance of science for sustainable development, the Collection is translated into Arabic to ensure accessibility to all Arabic-speaking children in the MENA region, and worldwide.
Project Highlights
E-book
The SDG Collection will soon be published as an eBook.
After School Club
The student review club was so popular that the school made it a permanent year-round activity. A dedicated student media studio has also been established so that more students can continue interviewing researchers and participating in science communication and content creation.
Student-Scientist Interviews
Here you can find a video series where young minds interview leading scientists to explore how science is helping us achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Each episode focuses on a different SDG, showing how cool science can solve real-world problems!
Dedicated Events
Head of Program Laura Henderson joined event partners and organizers, KAUST and UNDP Saudi Arabia, for a high-profile child-led live-review event at UNCCD COP16 in Riyadh, in December 2024 – the only event in the official two-week program to feature children on stage – generating more than 1 million social media impressions and 12,000 YouTube views.
Awards and Recognitions
The project was recognized as a finalist in the 2024, 2025, and 2026 International Green Grown Awards, under the Benefiting Society category, with judges recognizing its innovation.
From SDG articles to classroom learning
Building on the success of the Collection, we are exploring the next phase of the initiative: transforming research-based sustainability content into practical learning resources for schools.
This next step will expand the Collection through a dedicated eBook and a global communications campaign, continuing to promote youth engagement by equipping young audiences with the scientific understanding needed to contribute to sustainable development. Additionally, by partnering with a specialized educational content developer, the articles will be transformed into classroom-ready resources, including teacher guides, lesson plans, and activities that enable educators to integrate the content into their classes. To engage the younger learners, a series of relatable characters has been developed to present the science as young news correspondents.
All materials will be developed in English and Arabic and shared digitally with schools across Saudi Arabia, as well as made freely available through our website for global access.
Explore the Collection Articles
Towards SDG 1: Helping Small Farmers by Saving Crops From Parasitic Weeds
Farming can help lift entire communities out of poverty because it provides farmers with enough food to eat and sell to others. Science helps address important challenges to farming, such as pests and weeds, which can destroy farmers’ crops and put them at risk of poverty. In this article, the authors present their research on controlling a weed that harms important cereal crops like rice, millet, sorghum, and maize, helping farmers grow more crops, maintain healthier soil, and improve their livelihoods.
Towards SDG 2: Healthy Soil Leads to Healthy Food
Growing food can be tricky, especially in certain climates or places with poor soil. But we can get a little help from tiny friends—microbes. Soil has helpful microbes that act as natural fertilizers, improving soil quality and protecting plants. In this article, researchers are exploring how to use microbes to help plants grow in warmer climates. One place they test our science is in school gardens, which allows students to learn about healthy soils and how to grow delicious, nutritious food using new technologies.
Towards SDG 3: How Studying Proteins Helps Treat Muscle Diseases and Keep People Healthy
One important example of how studying biology can keep people healthy is how science rapidly developed the vaccines that put an end to the coronavirus pandemic, a global health crisis. This was made possible by the efforts of scientists who studied how proteins are made by cells. In this article, the authors are studying the steps involved in making proteins to find ways to prevent and treat muscle diseases. This study highlights why health is important, some of the things everyone can do to stay healthy, and how studying diseases—and solving them by understanding biology—can help many people around the world live healthier, longer lives.
Towards SDG 4: What if Every Student Had Their own Tutor?
Education has a lot of challenges, including shortages of teachers, limited resources, and gaps in reading and math skills. Science and technology help address these barriers by offering new ways for students to learn. In this article, researchers are developing TALEEM, an artificial intelligent (AI) tutor built to support both students and teachers by guiding students step by step, providing personalized feedback, and adapting lessons to various levels. This study explores how education connects to the SDGs, and how new projects like TALEEM can strengthen skills, build confidence, and support a world where every child has the chance to learn.
Towards SDG 5—Giving Girls and Women Better Lives By Fixing Water Problems
In many communities, girls and women are responsible for collecting water, often from distant or unsafe sources. This daily responsibility can affect their safety, health, and future opportunities. In this article, the authors explore how science can show how water-related problems may not affect everyone in the same way. By highlighting this important issue, they can help policymakers and leaders understand the impact of these problems and take appropriate action to make sure everyone receives the same opportunities to thrive.
Towards SDG 6: Wastewater Treatment Generates a Precious Water Resource
Clean drinking water and good toilet facilities are important for our health and wellbeing. Sadly, around 2.2 billion people worldwide do not have clean drinking water or good toilet facilities. In this article, you will learn about wastewater treatment technology, in which dirty water is cleaned so we can reuse it. The goal is to create a nonstop cycle, reusing water repeatedly, similar to how nature works. We can care for people and the planet by being smart about water use.
Towards SDG 7: Creating Super-Flames With Electricity to Power a Sustainable Society
To live our lives, we need to eat, keep warm, and move around. All these actions require energy. Many of the technologies we use nowadays require energy, too. The problem is that most of today’s energy comes from burning coal, oil, and gas, which is bad for the planet. In this article, you will learn about plasma-assisted combustion, a new way of creating a sustainable energy source. By having better energy sources, we can help all people live better lives, while protecting our planet at the same time.
Towards SDG 8: Using Math to Help Understand the Jobs of Tomorrow
Creating a new product, increasing/decreasing workers’ salaries, or changing how jobs are performed involve risky decisions that business owners must consider. Currently, a big question is whether businesses should stick with traditional methods or invest in smart robots and artificial intelligence, which could help them work faster and better. In this article, researchers explore how technology can transform the way people work, and how they can use mathematical models to peek at what future workplaces might look like.
Towards SDG 9: Using 3D Printing to Make Chemical Industries More Sustainable
To be sustainable, all industries need to reduce the amounts of energy and materials they use, and the garbage they produce. This challenge requires new ways of making products, and new machines to make those products! The good news is that scientists have some new high-tech alternatives. In this article, they will tell you how 3D printing can help industries be more efficient, safer, and better for the environment.
Towards SDG 10: Wearable Sensors to Help People With Speech Disabilities
For those who have lost their ability to speak, or were born that way, everyday life can feel lonely—imagine being unable to chat with friends, ask a question in class, or request help in a store. But there is hope! Scientists are developing a new solution that can help these people speak without using their voices! In this article, they present a new system that uses magnetic patches placed on people’s lips to track lip movements, and sends them to a phone app. The app can then “speak” for them by transforming their lip movements into sounds and readable words, allowing people with speech problems to communicate vocally with others.
Towards SDG 11: How Urban Greenery Can Help Us Build Sustainable Cities
Meeting the needs of many people in cities will not be easy, particularly with global problems like the hot temperatures experienced in cities, pollution, climate change, and food shortages. This is where urban greenery could help. Urban greenery includes the trees, parks, and other plants you see in cities. In this article, you can learn about how greenery can help make our cities sustainable, providing benefits like cleaning the air, cooling the city in hot summer temperatures, and preventing flooding during heavy rains.
Towards SDG 12: Upcycling Biomass and Waste to Valuable Products
Earth’s population is growing, and more resources are being used. We must make sure we are protecting the planet and its resources for the people born in the future. In this article, you will learn about several environmentally friendly methods of producing new materials from waste, including the use of normally discarded parts of living things, like plant leaves and shrimp shells.
Towards SDG 13: Turning CO2 From a Problem to a Solution Using the Earth’s Natural Heat
The biggest cause of climate change is the release of greenhouse gases, in particular carbon dioxide (CO2). CO2 is released into the air when we burn fossil fuels for energy for driving cars, running factories, and generating electricity. So how can we reduce CO2 emissions while ensuring we have the energy we need? In this article, you will learn about a new technology in which CO2 is captured and injected into rocks underground, and then used to create electricity for homes and buildings. By doing this, CO2 can go from being a problem to being part of a solution for climate action.
Towards SDG 14: Protecting and Restoring Our Oceans Using Underwater Labs
The oceans that cover much of our planet are important for billions of people. But some human activities, like polluting the environment and catching too many fish, harm our oceans. Since all living things are connected, when the oceans are healthy, we can be healthy, too. In this article, you can learn about one group of scientists that has created a special place called the Coral Probiotics Village, where they work together to test new technologies and treatments to protect coral reefs and the organisms that depend on them. With this research, they can help people make better choices and help countries work together to take care of our big, blue planet!
Towards SDG 15: Using Remote Sensing to Restore Our Lands, From the Coastal Fringe to the Deep Desert
Among the many tools scientists can use to achieve SDG 15, remote sensing allows them to capture data from space to monitor and assess land cover and identify when ecosystems are unhealthy. Remote sensing provides valuable information about forests, wetlands and other land-based ecosystems, helping people manage and protect important areas. In this article, you can learn about the fast, accurate data provided by remote sensing, and how that can be used by governments to make informed decisions and create policies that will help the world protect life on land.
Towards SDG 16: Safe and Secure Use of Digital Technologies
Information and communication technology (ICT) involves using digital services to achieve tasks. For example, we use computers and tablets to work, shop, or learn. However, multiple threats might affect our safety in ICT. Stolen private information is one type of threat. To be safe in the digital world, it is important to be aware of those dangers and be a responsible user of ICT. In this article, researchers aim to raise awareness about the security risks of ICT. You will learn how scientists are keeping our digital world secure and how everyone can be protected from those risks.
Towards SDG 17: How 6G Can Help Us To Connect The Unconnected
Satellites are often referred to as Earth’s guardians because they are responsible for connecting and monitoring the world in various ways. They bring internet connectivity to remote areas, monitor agriculture and food production, and support healthcare. In this article, you will learn about connection, and how satellite technology can play a key role in achieving several challenges addressed by all the 17 SDGs.
