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.
Join us for this seminar that explores different kinds of power relationships that influence people’s access to resources, livelihood options and sustainability outcomes.
This seminar looks at a case study of aquaculture production systems in northern Vietnam and the power relationships...
The development sector proclaims that it values dignity. Yet it often breaks this promise, with people leaving encounters with charities feeling bruised and unseen. In this seminar, Tom Wein examines dignity as a core value around the world, drawing on his in-progress research for the future...
In this virtual panel event, we will bring together experts from various regions to address a critical challenge of our time: ensuring that women and youth are not left behind in the global transition to clean energy.
Gender equity needs to be at the centre of clean energy policies or...
This seminar explores how displacement and mobility shape children’s wellbeing, drawing on research with Syrian Armenian children and families who moved to Armenia following the Syrian war. It highlights the value of child-centred, participatory and intersectional approaches in humanitarian...
Join this high-level event Multilateralism at a crossroads: Transforming challenges into opportunities for a sustainable future, with senior representatives from Brazil, South Africa and Spain, along with expert speakers for discussion and Q&A.
Multilateralism is facing significant...
The global debate on balancing incentives for innovation in the pharmaceutical industry and facilitating competition for greater access to affordable medicines and vaccines has intensified in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. Drug discovery and vaccine development are expensive processes...
This policy briefing looks at six case studies from the POTENCIAR programme, implemented in Mozambique’s health sector. It highlights lessons for governance programmes and discusses how POTENCIAR’s interventions facilitated knowledge-sharing, participatory planning, institutional...
A new study of innovative, grassroots food projects in cities across the world - filling the gap left by insufficient state support for those in food insecurity - suggests that they provide more dignity and choice than standard foodbank models. The projects all made efforts to replicate a...
People with diverse sexual orientation, gender identity and/or gender expression (SOGIE) are a hard-to-reach population. This is because of restrictive legal frameworks, social exclusion, stigma and discrimination in service delivery. Because people with diverse SOGIE often avoid seeking...
This paper draws on an international research collaboration to examine grass-roots innovations in food provisioning in five urban locations: Brighton & Hove, UK; Toronto, Canada; Montpellier, France; São Paulo, Brazil; and Cape Town, South Africa. It examines the innovative features of these...
Watch again
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYD-IhrjawI
This seminar will showcase community-led innovations focused on enhancing equity and sustainability in food access in the city of Brighton & Hove. It will examine experiences that emerged in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and...
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).