Thomas Hickmann, Associate Senior Lecturer at the Department of Political Science at Lund University, held the second online session for the course last Thursday.

During the session Thomas Hickmann presented conclusions drawn from the study Scientific evidence on the political impact of the Sustainable Development Goals. The study suggests that the political impact of the SDGs has so far largely been discursive, affecting the way actors understand and communicate about sustainable development while more profound normative and institutional impact, from legislative action to changing resource allocation, remains rare.

- Therefore, we conclude in the study that the global goals have had only limited transformative political impact, Thomas Hickmann says.

After the presentation, the participants discussed the study's results such as obstacles and drivers of SDG implementation from their own perspective and related to their own research projects.

- The participants were very engaged and the discussions benefitted a lot from the different practical experiences of participants. That is why we put emphasis on group discussions and dedicate an considerable amount of time for the exchange among participants, he explains.

Along with engaged discussions, Thomas Hickmann also highlights the diversity amongst the participants:

- This is in my view special about this PhD course because it brings PhD students from many parts of the world together with a good balance between participants from the global South and the global North, he says.

The next online-session will be held in March and the course will be finalised with a three-day long online-workshop. Read more about the course here.