On the afternoon of 20 January 2018, the initiating meeting of the major program of the National Social Science Foundation ‘Research on the Construction of the Assessment System of the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda and the Path to its Realization’, hosted by the Institute of Sustainable Development Goals of Tsinghua University (TUSDG), was successfully held in Conference Room 302 of School of Public Policy & Management, Tsinghua University (SPPM).

The experts attending this opening session include Gong Sen, Executive Deputy Director of the Center for International Knowledge on Development (CIDK) and researcher of the Development Research Centre of the State Council; Li Ming, Project Manager for Sustainable Development of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Representative Office in China, Pan Jiahua, Director of the Institute for Urban and Environment Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), Researcher and Director of the Research Centre for Sustainable Development, Wang Huiyao, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Center for China and Globalization, Counsellor of the State Council; Zhou Hailin, Secretary General of the China Society for Sustainable Development and Director of the Academic Working Committee; Zhu Dajian, Director of the Institute of Sustainable Development and Management, School of Economics and Management, Tongji University; Meng Qingguo, Director of the Office of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Administration of Tsinghua University and Professor of Tsinghua SPPM; Xue Lan, Dean of SPPM and Director of TUSDG; and Wang Can, Director of the Department of Environmental Planning and Management of School of Environment of Tsinghua University, Deputy Director of TUSDG and lead expert of the program group, Zhu Xufeng, Associate Dean of SPPM and Executive Director of TUSDG, Yang Yongheng, Associate Dean of SPPM, Zhou Shaojie, Associate Professor, and Gao Yuning, Associate Professor.

Xue Lan extended a warm welcome to the participating experts. He briefly outlined the background of the establishment of the TUSDG, its focus and the origin of this project. Meng Qingguo, on behalf of the university, expressed his congratulations on the approval of the major program, and at the same time highly valued the importance attached by the project team to the topic. He stressed that major program, as a very important category in the National Social Science Fund system, play a pivotal role in the construction of liberal arts in universities and the improvement of the national cultural system and soft power. The successful holding of the initiating meeting of the major program of National Social Science Fund has laid an important foundation for the program group to listen to the suggestions of experts in this field, to define the future research direction so as to ‘produce theories and ideas’ in this field. The initiating meeting was presided over by Zhu Xufeng, and Wang Can, as the chief expert of the program, made a report on the opening of the project.