Institute of Development Studies

Biography

Ian Scoones is co-director of the ESRC STEPS Centre at Sussex and joint convenor of the IDS-hosted Future Agricultures Consortium. He is an agricultural ecologist by original training whose interdisciplinary research links the natural and social sciences and focuses on the relationships between science and technology, local knowledge and livelihoods and the politics of policy processes in the context of international agricultural, environment and development issues. A social and institutional perspective is at the centre of his work, which explores the linkages between local knowledges and practices and the processes of scientific enquiry, development policy-making and field-level implementation.

Over the past twenty-five years, he has worked on pastoralism and rangeland management, soil and water conservation, biodiversity and conservation, as well as dryland agricultural systems, largely in eastern and southern Africa. A central theme has been a focus on citizen engagement in pro-poor research and innovation systems. Most recently he has been working on the governance of agricultural biotechnology in India and veterinary/animal health science and policy in Africa, including projects on livestock marketing and foot-and-mouth disease in southern Africa and the international responses to avian influenza.

Selected Projects and Recent Work

• Future Agricultures Consortium
• Social, Technological and Environmental Pathways to Sustainability (STEPS) Centre
• Agricultural Biotechnology & Policy Processes in Developing Countries
• Sustainable Livelihoods in Southern Africa
• Livelihoods After Land Reform
• Veterinary Science, Transboundary Animal Diseases and Markets

Thematic Expertise

Agriculture; Democratising Biotechnology; Livelihoods and Land Reform; Livestock and Pastoralism; Citizenship; Climate Change; Environment; Politics and Power; Science and Society.

Geographic Expertise

Sub Saharan Africa; India.

Selected Publications »»

• Scoones, I. and Thompson, J. (2011) 'The Politics of Seed in Africa’s Green Revolution', IDS Bulletin 42.4, Brighton: IDS
• Cornwall, A. and Scoones, I. (2011) Revolutionizing Development: Reflections on the Work of Robert Chambers, London: Earthscan
• Scoones, I. with Marongwe, N., Mavedzenge, B., Mahenehene, J., Murimbarimba, F. and Sukume, M (2010) Zimbabwe's Land Reform: Myths & Realities, London: James Currey
• Scoones, I. (2010) Avian Influenza: Science, Policy and Politics, London: Earthscan
• Leach M, Scoones, I and Stirling, A (2010) Dynamic Sustainabilities: Technology, Environment, Social Justice, London: Earthscan
• Scoones, I. (2009) 'Land Tenure Dilemmas: Next Steps for Zimbabwe'
• Cousins, B. and Scoones, I. (2009) 'Contested paradigms of ‘viability’ in redistributive land reform: perspectives from southern Africa', PLAAS Working Paper 15
• Thompson, J and Scoones, I (2009) 'Addressing the Dynamics of Agri-Food Systems: An Emerging Agenda for Social Science Research', Environmental Science and Policy 12:386-397, Elsevier
• Scoones, I and Thompson, J (2009) Farmer First Revisited: Innovation for Agricultural Research and Development, Oxford: ITDG Publishing
• Haddad, L. and Scoones, I. (2009) 'New Directions for African Agriculture', IDS Policy Briefing 24, Brighton: IDS
• Scoones, I. (2009) 'Global Engagements with Global Assessments: The Case of the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD)', IDS Research Summary of IDS Working Paper 313, Brighton: IDS
• Scoones, I. (2008) 'Global Engagements with Global Assessments: The Case of the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD)', IDS Working Paper 313, Brighton: IDS
• Scoones, I. (2008) 'A New Start: Challenging the Myths About Zimbabwean Agriculture and Land Reform'
• Mavedzenge, B.Z., Mahenehene, J., Murimbarimba, F., Scoones, I. and Wolmer, W. (2008) 'The Dynamics of Real Markets: Cattle in Southern Zimbabwe following Land Reform', Development and Change 39.4:613-39, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing
• Scoones, I. (2008) 'The International Response to Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza: Science, Policy and Politics', STEPS Working Paper 10, Brighton: STEPS Centre