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 little more than three years since the Berlin Wall began to crumble. In that time, the political context and content of development aid to the Third World has changed rather dramatically.
This report focuses on gender based violence in Bangladesh and Pakistan as there is very little information available on the other countries. The social and political context of gender based violence is discussed in both countries. Specific forms of violence and issues relating to prostitution...
How much autonomy do women in Ghana have? Does this equal that of men? Women in West Africa, and in particular Ghana, are often assumed to enjoy a greater degree of personal and economic independence than women in other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. While relatively speaking this may be true,...
This report discusses the gender dimensions of the impact of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, with a particular focus on Uganda and some reference to Malawi.
This book reviews recent biological research on African rangelands and highlights the management implications for future donor and national government policy. The relationship between livestock numbers and range degradation is debated, and more appropriate techniques for the assessment of...
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).