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.
The economic and political crisis in Sri Lanka has affected almost every home in the country in some way, and for the working-class poor of the capital Colombo, the effect has been devastating. Whether they recover from it, and the long-term implications of it cannot even be comprehended.
"We...
In recent years livestock production has been criticized for contributing to the climate crisis. Several groups, including corporate lobbies and environmentalists alike, have called for a reduction in meat and milk consumption and a shift towards more plant-based diets. But these simplistic and...
For those of us living in Europe, 2022 might feel like a year where people and governments are increasingly worried about poverty and food insecurity. Just as we were grappling with the long-term social and economic implications of the global pandemic, the war in Ukraine arrived, which has...
Questions about ethics are increasingly recognised as central concerns of evaluation practice, especially in the context of policy and programming that aims to reach marginalised and excluded populations.
Current localisation and decolonisation debates create further momentum for asking...
In this episode of the IDS Between the Lines podcast, IDS Fellows Dominic Glover and Lidia Cabral interviews Glenn Davies Stone – Research Professor of Environmental Science at Sweet Briar College, Virginia – author of the book: The Agricultural Dilemma: How Not to Feed the World.
Listen...
Despite being an upper-middle-income country, hunger is widespread in South Africa and is related to the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment, and inequality.
According to the FAO, 45 per cent of the population experienced moderate or severe food insecurity in 2018-2020. South...
This is the 31st monthly Knowledge, Evidence and Learning for Development (K4D) Programme’s Humanitarian Evidence Summary (HUMES), signposting to the latest relevant evidence and discourse on humanitarian action to inform and support their response.
It is the result of one day of work per...
In this episode of the IDS Between the Lines podcast, IDS Fellows Dominic Glover and Lidia Cabral interviews Glenn Davies Stone – Research Professor of Environmental Science at Sweet Briar College, Virginia – author of the book: The Agricultural Dilemma: How Not to Feed the World.
Listen...
Deeply rooted social injustices that contribute to hunger and food insecurity are difficult to remove, and the experience of Brazil over the past 40 years demonstrates this.
Following decades of promising results in the fight against hunger and poverty, a political and economic crisis...
New Research on the impact of Covid-19, spanning 42 low- and middle-income counties, has identified macroeconomic and social policies required to build resilience against future health shocks and environmental emergencies. As world leaders meet at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World...
This Theory of Change (TOC) document looks at each of the relevant strategic outcomes from the 2018 CSP in turn (temporarily rolled over as a result of the uncertainty) and proposes theoretical ways in which the interventions can be best aligned with medium- to longer-term goals.
This short note sets out the likely medium-term policy framework and some considerations for WFP in navigating its desire not to entirely neglect development and peace aspects in Afghanistan despite the severity of the humanitarian situation.
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).