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Sustainability

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.

People

Melissa Leach

Emeritus Fellow

Lyla Mehta

Professorial Fellow

Ian Scoones

Professorial Fellow

Amber Huff

Research Fellow

Jeremy Allouche

Professorial Fellow

Lars Otto Naess

Research Fellow

Wei Shen

Resource Politics and Environmental Change Cluster Lead and Research Fellow

Shilpi Srivastava

Resource Politics and Environmental Change Cluster Lead and Research Fellow

Programmes and centres

Recent work

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Showing 1–12 of 15452 results

Upcoming Event

Indian development at a crossroads – part 2

Join us for this in-person and online event that explores how top-down modes of development are challenged from below. This event follows from an earlier event on the same theme, held on 11 December 2024 (details here). The global expansion of authoritarian rule is witnessing a brand...

3 October 2025

Upcoming Event

Globalisation in retreat: implications for the global South

Join us for a special event to celebrate the contribution that Raphie Kaplinsky has made to development studies. Raphie Kaplinsky worked at the IDS for more than three decades, and is currently an Emeritus Professorial Fellow at the Institute. Beginning in the early 1970s, Raphie’s...

30 September 2025

Upcoming Event

Weathering the storm – making the case for social protection in crises

Join us for a facilitated policy panel to debate how to make the political case for investing in social protection in settings of crises at a time of aid rupture. Wrestling with questions such as: How can existing investments in systems be maintained and adapted during crises? How can...

16 September 2025

Upcoming Event

Pathways to development conference

Pathways to Development (Path2Dev) is a multidisciplinary conference that brings together empirical and historical research by economists, political scientists, sociologists, legal and constitutional scholars, and law and policy reform experts, within and outside Pakistan, to document and...

From 11 September 2025 until 13 September 2025

Upcoming Event

Sustainable agricultural innovation: focus on Ghana

Notions of resource conservation historically gained little attention in Ghanaian agriculture, with the prominent paradigm promoting growth at all costs. This webinar considers how far approaches prioritising productivity and sustainability may overlap in the sector, and the potential role of...

3 September 2025

News

Major conference looks at social and humanitarian assistance in crises

From 16 to 18 September 2025, the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) will be hosting an international conference organised by the  BASIC (Better Assistance in Crises) Research programme, on ‘Social and Humanitarian Assistance in Crises: agendas, ambitions and aspirations for more...

13 August 2025

Report

Impact of Crisis (Conflict, Natural Hazard Related Disaster, and Health Emergencies) on the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities

Crises, including conflicts, natural hazard related disasters, and health emergencies, are on the rise and becoming increasingly complex. Marginalised and socially excluded groups, such as people with disabilities, are disproportionally affected by crises and are often excluded from the...

Maria Kett

12 August 2025

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).

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