Our interdisciplinary research explores how pathways to sustainability, green transformations and equitable access to resources such as land, water and food can be achieved and help us meet the environmental as well as human development-related goals of the UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development.
Our work builds on a long tradition of critical social science engagement with environmental issues and resource politics in collaboration with partners globally. It explores how pathways to sustainability are shaped by political-economic and social processes, and understands how they are driven by technology, markets, states and citizens. Our research sheds new light on how we can achieve green transformations that move us from fossil fuel to renewable energy, from throw-away to circular economies. It addresses the politics of sustainability, and understands how transformations occur at local levels as well as global, in both rural and urban settings, and be led by citizens as well as national governments. In doing so, it shines a light on how sustainable resource use, consumption and production is shaped by issues such as gender, livelihoods and politics.
The ESRC STEPS Centre (Social, Technological and Environmental Pathways to Sustainability) is an interdisciplinary global research and policy engagement centre.
Questions about rigour, validity and credibility are central concerns of all evaluation practice. So too should be how we pay attention to meaningful participation to enable greater equity, especially when embracing complexity and seeking to achieve systems change.
Yet many evaluators and...
The Food Equity Centre and the People Centered Food Systems project are curating a set of webinars in 2024 on the topic of human rights for equitable food systems. The big question for the webinar series is: How do rights move us forward in achieving equitable food systems?
Our first talk...
In an era of hashtag campaigns and online organising, politicians and corporations are spending billions to disrupt dialogue and drown-out dissent online across Africa. Join this event to discuss these issues and more, explored in the new book Digital Disinformation in Africa: Hashtag Politics,...
In this special event to mark the culmination of Melissa Leach’s tenure as Director of IDS, a panel of experts will debate the future of development and development studies, offering their thoughts on where development has come in the last 10 years and crucially, where it might be...
Advocacy for public accountability aims to produce reactions from government officials or service providers. But it is not always clear to advocates how to interpret diverse government reactions and decide on next steps. This panel will share and reflect on a framework to help achieve this,...
The Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Weeks (HNPW) provides a unique forum for humanitarian actors to discuss and solve common challenges in humanitarian affairs. Between 29 April to 10 May, more than 60 networks and partnerships will hold their annual meetings and consultations to share...
The International Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) has published a new report on UK Aid to India that it says ‘raises significant concerns’ on the lack of transparency, and governance processes of British International Investments (BII).
The report is a follow up to the ICAI review of...
Effective child engagement strategies are essential to optimise the response to disease outbreaks and minimise their impact while ensuring children's protection, well-being and resilience. When children understand disease outbreaks, they are better able to cope, contribute and recover. This...
After finishing my ten year term as Director of IDS, I will be stepping down at the end of April. In my first blog post I reflected on the wonderful, extraordinary Institute which has been my base for more than a third of a century. Here, in part two, I reflect on IDS research and strategies...
Somalia is consistently among one of the most challenging environments for aid agencies and government entities to provide social assistance due to the ongoing conflict and limited government control. Aid providers struggle to reach people in areas not under government control, which exacerbates...
Social assistance in Somalia has become deeply embedded in the country’s political economy and struggles with systemic diversion and corruption, which negatively affects how programmes on accountability of aid function in practice.
This paper examines systems for accountability of social...
In this special episode of the IDS Between the Lines podcast Andy Sumner, President of European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI) and Professor of International Development at Kings College London interviews Professor Melissa Leach who leaves IDS after 33 years....
17 April 2024
Why learn with us.
In an extraordinary time of challenge and change, we use more than 50 years of expertise to transform development approaches that create more equitable and sustainable futures. The work you do with us will help make progressive change towards universal development; to build and connect solidarities for collective action, locally and globally. The University of Sussex has been ranked 1st in the world for Development Studies for the past five years (QS World University Rankings by Subject).