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Podcast: Evidence for hope – the emerging sustainability revolution

Published on 31 January 2025

Understanding and advancing how evidence can be used to inform decisions to improve people’s lives is a crucial priority for IDS. This is especially important for evidence-led solutions that need to balance between social, economic, and environmental domains to achieve sustainability.

A photo of a windfarm on a green field in Urguary.
A Wind farm in Uruguay. Image: Gerardo Jimenez/Shutterstock

In this podcast James Georgalakis, Director of Evidence and Impact, IDS is in conversation with Rob D. van den Berg, Visiting Professor at King’s College, London who talks about the issues in his new book Evidence for Hope: The Emerging Sustainability Revolution.

Listen to the podcast

In the podcast, Rob explores the definition of evidence and the importance of reasoned judgements based on observations. It includes examples from the Netherlands and Uruguay and highlights how worldviews influence our understanding of evidence.

Rob, who has worked as independent evaluator in international development for decades, advocates that evaluative evidence should be more widely used as it provides a rich source for solutions of sustainability problems. He also notes that we are on the verge of a sustainability revolution that will happen regardless of current-day populist movements: these two factors are the Evidence for Hope that Rob sees.

It is a must-listen for researchers, policymakers and students with an interest in sustainability, climate change, impact evaluation and evidence for research.

Purchase the book

About the interviewee

Rob D. van den Berg is Visiting Professor at King’s College, London, as well as an Honorary Associate at IDS. He has had a long career in international development with a demonstrated history of working in the international development evaluation community. First at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and then positions with The World Bank, UN Evaluation Group, International Development Evaluation Association (IDEAS). He has had many additional positions, such as Member of the Advisory Council of Wilton Park and Chair of the Evaluation Advisory Panel of IFAD.

About the interviewer

James Georgalakis is the Director of Evidence and Impact at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), helping to shape the Institute’s approach to research communications, strengthening evidence use and evaluating research impact.

His research interests relate to the role of networks and relationships in the mobilisation of research knowledge for development. He is also Director of the popular IDS professional development course ‘Shaping Policy with Evidence‘.

About the Between the Lines podcast

This podcast series explores ground-breaking ideas in development for positive social and environmental change. Each month we feature an interview with an expert in international development who will talk about their latest research and ideas.

Episodes content could feature authors of new books, IDS research or interviews with special guest stars.

The discussions give an insight on the themes covered, exploring the challenges and discoveries, and why the issues matter for progressive and sustainable development globally.

Send your comments and episode suggestions to [email protected]

Key contacts

Gary Edwards

Senior Marketing and Data Protection Officer

g.edwards@ids.ac.uk

+ 44 (0)1273 915637

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