The ambition of UM is to be an inclusive, innovative and sustainable university. Hence, UM has included sustainability goals in its strategic program and has launched the Sustainable UM 2030 program that is aimed at education, research and operations. In 2019, a sustainable research assessment [download report] was conducted, followed by the symposium Sustainable Research [download report] at Maastricht University: present and future. From these activities, it became clear that although a substantial body of sustainable research already exists, UM has a large unexploited sustainable research potential that can be unlocked by increasing cross-faculty cooperation.

Call for research proposals

Sustainable UM 2030 invites UM researchers to submit applications to establish interdisciplinary and cross-faculty sustainability research collaboration in strategic research areas, so-called spearheads, focusing on one or more of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The spearheads will develop new research strongholds and contribute with knowledge, a wider span of research methods and innovative ways of thinking to the academic community, companies, policy-makers and society at large.

Selected proposals will be awarded a seed fund that facilitates: 1) establishing strategic collaborations between sustainability researchers within UM; 2) preparing for external (international) collaboration and research grants. The seed fund can be used to strategically expand existing research collaborations or to support new research collaborations to form sustainability research spearhead within UM. 

Click here to download the complete application form.