The Plateau Maslaha initiative at Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s (HBKU) College of Public Policy (CPP) hosted participants from the Global Innovation in Sustainability Summit (GISS), on March 4, 2023, for a special UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)-themed creative workshop.

Plateau Maslaha invited more than 40 students to the Minaretein building, where they met with Dr. Leslie Pal, Founding Dean, CPP, and Logan Cochrane, Associate Professor, CPP, who presented his recent book on Sustainable Qatar. They also had the opportunity to engage with young Qatari SDG ambassadors in attendance including Eman Alobaide and Noura Al Sahli.

Dr. Evren Tok, Associate Dean for Community Engagement, CPP, and main organizer of the event, then conducted a special creative workshop with the participants, which saw the group divided into teams and assigned a specific SDG. The teams then collaborated with local Arabic Arabic calligraphy artist Abdul Kareem, to design and craft six canvases featuring creative interpretations of the SDGs. The finished artworks were then put on display at Qatar Academy Al Wakra, the venue of the GISS 2023.

“We were proud to offer this year’s GISS participants the chance to engage with the UN’s SDGs through the lens of art and creativity. Art in all its forms is an invaluable medium through which creators and audiences can both engage with policies that tackle contemporary global challenges. CPP educates future leaders to engage with their communities, acting as a bridge for policy innovations that positively contribute to global public good,” said Dr. Tok.

GISS 2023 gathered more than 40 high school students and their mentors from across the world in Doha to showcase their own projects that address challenges outlined within the UN’s SDGs. It also provided a unique opportunity for them to engage with other young sustainability ambassadors from around the world, learn from and interact with international experts, and gain a better understanding of how they could advocate for sustainability in their communities. 

HBKU’s CPP aims to become one of the leading public policy schools in the region and the world and a center for teaching and researching responses to policy questions of local and global relevance. The College actively leverages local and transnational synergies and collaborations with distinguished international partners in the government, non-government, corporate, and organizational sectors, transcending borders to facilitate expertise and build capacity in Qatar and beyond.