The UCD Centre for Sustainable Development Studies (CSDS) aims to promote and foster Education, Research and Policy Outreach on Sustainable Development.   It is comprised of an inter disciplinary group of academics, researchers and students whose work focuses on contemporary sustainable development issues.

University College Dublin has published its first Sustainability Report outlining a structured programme designed to embed the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) across the University’s education, research, governance and engagement activities.

UCD had a direct role in the development of the SDGs through the advocacy of Professor Paul Walsh, UCD School of Politics and International Relations, who represented universities as a member of the UN Major Group for Science and Technology in the intergovernmental negotiations on the SDGs. Through the work of this group the role of academia, science, research and innovation are firmly embedded within the SDGs and UCD has special consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council as a Non-Governmental Actor, creating a pathway for ongoing global influence in global public policy. 

UCD also has a key partnership with UN SDSN, in particular the education wing the SDG Academy,