Fostering the Inner Development Goals in Health Professions’ Tertiary Education

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). are an urgent call for action adopted by all United Nations’ member nations in 2015 to achieve peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. Each of the 17 goals has eight to twelve more specific targets, each with more specific indicators to drive and monitor progress. In 2021, experts collaborated to develop the Inner Development Goals, a framework of inner abilities, qualities or skills that “we need to foster among individuals, groups and organisations that play crucial roles in working to fulfil these visions”. Health professionals in all disciplines have a critical role in contributing to the targets set within the SDGs, yet little is known as to how health professions education is supporting the development of inner abilities, qualities and skills. This program of research aims to examine how health professions’ tertiary education is currently fostering the Inner Development Goals. Ideas for research questions: To what extent do health professions’ competency and accreditation standards currently align with the IDGs? What examples of best-practice exist in the literature and how can these inform the development of concept based curricula? What are ways in which the IDGs can be developed using concept-based curricula within already full health professions training?