Tackling the United Nations SDGs Through the Future17 Program: A Reflective Case Study Using Autoethnographic Techniques

The Future17 Program provides universities with an educational approach and mode of delivery that develops leaders for work in organizations that address the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as “grand challenges.” We develop a conceptual framework to structure our reflection based on three attributes of “grand challenges”: interdisciplinary approaches, organizational complexity, and multicultural skills. Using a case study method, we reflect on the experiences of five key academic staff, including one within the team responsible for the global implementation of Future17, the academic lead for one of the consortium university members, and three academic mentors from the same university. We offer a conceptual model for addressing “grand challenges” in the context of the Future17 program, practical guidance for universities to implement Future17, and insights for project scoping and deliverables on a timeline, while also discussing the limitations of our study and directions for future research.