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.
It is crucial that the slow but much-needed progress in renewable energy use accounts for the fact that even alternative energy sources have a damaging impact on the environment and communities. This opinion piece for CIPER looks at the current imbalance between mining and non-mining countries...
New digital technologies are now being widely used in Africa and lower-income countries (LICs). This has had an impact on tax administration, which has been increasingly digitised. Specifically Digital Financial Services (DFS) and digital IDs can improve tax administration. They have the...
Between July and October 2021, the Sanitation Learning Hub worked with government representatives and development partners to develop, share, and cross-analyse case studies looking at local system and government strengthening in four local government areas across West Africa: Benin (N’Dali...
Public participation in spatial planning is a vital means to successful policymaking and can be enhanced by combining geospatial methods with participatory learning and action.
In 2015, the government of Argentina experienced a significant shift in its pro - grammatic orientation from an administration characterized as left-of-center and interventionist to one considered right-of-center and market friendly. The contrasts between the Frente para la Victoria...
This paper explores access to water, sanitation, and health in pastoral communities in northern Tanzania. It argues that the concept of gender, used on its own, is not enough to understand the complexities of sanitation, hygiene, water, and health.
We are delighted to welcome Smriti RDN Neupane as this year’s IDS Graduate Scholarship Award winner. Smriti joined us in September 2021 and is studying the IDS MA in Governance, Development and Public Policy.
https://youtu.be/cbuILr3fCbI
Smriti has almost a decade of experience working to...
This paper explores the relationship between accessible sanitation and disability-inclusive employment in Bangladesh and Nigeria. It focuses on the need for toilets at work that are easy for people with disabilities to use in poor countries.
Millions of people around the world do not have access to adequate sanitation facilities, undermining progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 6.2 that calls for adequate and equitable sanitation for all.
Responding to climate change requires transitioning at pace and scale to low-carbon energy sources. However, this in turn requires a huge supply of minerals, from lithium and nickel for electric vehicle batteries to copper for conducting wind power.
Watch the...
27 January 2022
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).