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.
How can reliability be generated and sustained in the face of uncertainty? This question is explored by examining knowledge networks among pastoralists and others in northern Kenya, emerging in response to a highly variable animal disease setting. Using quantitative and qualitative social...
Journal of European Public Policy; Volume 28, Issue 11
Taxing multinationals is politically difficult because of the structural power of mobile firms within the global economy, and this structural power is expected to increase in the digital age.
Recently however there has been a breakdown in the international corporate tax consensus that...
This Emerging Issues Report explores the relationship between education, conflict, and (in)stability in South Sudan, drawing on a wide range of academic, policy, and programming literature.
There is a growing body of research on the ways in which education can both exacerbate conflict and...
The literature on women’s participation in public protests and movements shows that even when they are prominent actors within these, most women are excluded from the male-dominated decision-making spaces within which negotiations with the state occur.
In this article we look at the case of...
The recent passing of two South African leaders of diametrically opposed backgrounds and character prompts reflection on the complexities and compromises associated with significant political and social change.
When Archbishop Desmond Tutu passed away on Boxing Day 2021 at the age of 90, the...
The Pakistan Hub, a partnership with the Mahbub ul Haq Research Centre (MHRC) at the Lahore University of Management Sciences, co-hosts a number of events series.
Our events include panel discussions on the political economy of development and global challenges and the Mahbub ul Haq...
Recent years have seen energy protests erupt in many countries around the world. Globally, countries are wrestling with the need to achieve a just transition away from fossil fuels while at the same time ensuring access to affordable energy.
This paper analyses the pathways of technology diffusion through social networks, following the experimental introduction of new technologies in Guinea-Bissau. In the context of an agricultural extension project, we document both the direct effects of this intervention and subsequent diffusion...
Después de más de seis anos de la firma del Acuerdo Final y más de cinco anos del comienzo de la reincorporación de las Farc-EP, este proceso sigue siendo un reto fundamental para el éxito de la implementación del Acuerdo Final y la consolidación de la paz. En este documento de trabajo,...
Looking back at what has effectively improved nutrition may inform policy makers on how to accelerate progress to end all forms of malnutrition by 2030.
As under-five stunting declined substantially in Burkina Faso, we analyzed its nutrition story at the micro-level. We conducted a...
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).