Project History (2024-Present)
Launched in 2024, The SDG Collection: How Science Can Help Us To Achieve The Sustainable Development Goals connects KAUST’s research with the next generation through a partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Saudi Arabia and Frontiers for Young Minds and the. The Collection hosts 17 science articles written for, and reviewed by, children aged 8-15, spanning all 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The articles showcase make the science science behind global sustainability challenges accessible to young audiences and demonstrates how research and innovation can contribute to a more sustainable world.
Young people play an active role in bringing this science to life. As part of the project, they review articles written by researchers, ask questions in scientist recorded interviews, and take part in live review events, helping shape how complex ideas are explained and shared. The project demonstrates how universities, schools, scientific publishers, and international development partners can work together to advance scientific literacy and empower young people to engage with global sustainability challenges.
With content in English and Arabic, the collection broadens access to sustainability knowledge across Saudi Arabia, the wider Arab region, and beyond. It reflects KAUST’s commitment to connecting scientific discovery with society and equipping young people to engage with the challenges that will shape their future.
Project Highlights
E-book
The SDG Collection eBooks, available in English and Arabic, bring together all 17 articles in a single resource in each language. Written by KAUST scientists and reviewed by school children, they can be shared digitally with schools and educators to support teaching and inspire curiosity about the science behind a sustainable future. Collaborations are underway to produce printed editions and expand distribution to schools and national libraries, broadening access to the collection.
After School Club
The SDG Collection has established a lasting space for youth engagement at The KAUST School. The success of the student review club led to its adoption as a permanent, year-round activity, supported by dedicated staff and a media studio. Students review new research articles, craft questions, and create science content, taking an active role in how knowledge is shared with their peers.
Student-Scientist Interviews
School students lead the conversation in a dedicated video series, further interviewing KAUST scientists about their research and how it addresses the Sustainable Development Goals. Each episode connects a global challenge with the people and ideas working towards solutions, giving young audiences a direct and engaging introduction to scientific discovery.
Dedicated Events
At UNCCD COP16 in Riyadh in December 2024, the SDG Collection brought young reviewers into an international conversation on land restoration and sustainable development. In a dedicated live-review event organized by KAUST, UNDP Saudi Arabia, and Frontiers for Young Minds, several school students aged 12–15 took the international stage to engaged directly with research on protecting crops from parasitic weeds. The event demonstrated the value of youth participation in science communication, with dessiminated participation content generating more than one million social media impressions and 12,000 YouTube views.
Awards and Recognitions
The SDG Collection was named a finalist in the Benefitting Society category of the International Green Gown Awards in 2024, 2025, and 2026. Its collaborative model also earned one of three honourable mentions selected by an international jury for the International Sustainable Campus Network’s 2024 Best Practices Report.
Beyond these awards, the project has gained visibility across international education, development, and publishing networks. It features on the International Association of Universities’ Higher Education and Research for Sustainable Development portal and was one of nine initiatives showcased at the UN Higher Education Sustainability Initiative’s (HESI) 2025 Networking Forum. It has also been selected as part of the International Publishers Association’s 2026 showcase, Turning the Page: 1000 Actions for a Sustainable Future, further extending its reach.
As part of Frontiers for Young Minds’ wider contribution to science education, the Collection helped shape the platform’s body of work recognised by the 2024 Open Education Global Significant Impact OER Award and the 2025 ALPSP Impact Award. Its inclusion as a flagship project in Frontiers’ contribution to the UNFCCC Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) Gallery brought this approach to climate education audiences, while dedicated UNDP features have highlighted its role in advancing scientific literacy and youth participation.
From SDG articles to classroom learning
Building on the concept of the SDG Collection, KAUST is currently developing a new educational project to bring sustainability research into school curricula and classrooms through tailored learning resources.
The project aims to further translate scientific content into teacher guides, lesson plans, and activities that help teachers connect the Sustainable Development Goals with classroom learning. A cast of young news correspondent characters will introduce the science, encouraging younger learners to explore the discoveries and ideas shaping a more sustainable world.
Developed in English and Arabic, the resources are planned for digital distribution to schools across Saudi Arabia and internationally, extending KAUST’s commitment to scientific literacy and sustainability education.
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.
