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 Arab region is a focus of world politics, with authoritarian regimes, significant fossil fuel reserves and histories of colonialism and imperialism. It is also the site of potentially immense green energy resources.
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https://youtu.be/c01qaIGWrLE?si=kFteDlXz5XoNR6kV&t=69
In this...
This paper investigates the sudden 2019 termination by the United States Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) of trade with India as a quasi-natural experiment. Given the re-election of Donald Trump and global concerns about the future of global trade, understanding the distributional...
Evidence suggests that the world is becoming increasingly volatile in the face of complex and interconnected challenges. It is also clear that we are failing to achieve key climate and development goals. More optimistically, other signals suggest that collective action still has the power to...
This resource guide from the Knowledge for Development and Diplomacy programme (K4DD) is designed to provide the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) staff and other interested parties with information about free online courses and materials they can use to develop...
The purpose of humanitarian action is to support people affected by armed conflicts and disasters by helping them to save their lives, alleviate their suffering, maintain their dignity, assist their recovery and increase their resilience.
This reading pack from the Knowledge for Development and...
One of the most common discussions amongst those living in the land reform areas today focuses on how will the next generation get land. Those who got the land during the land reform in 2000 are now getting older and many have died. The question of succession and inheritance is on people’s...
Four young researchers will share their perspectives on China and the Global South, presenting research that explores economics, education, international cooperation, and environmental governance.
Speakers
Dr. Muhammad Shahid, PhD graduate of the University of International Economics and...
This paper draws on a bespoke household panel dataset collected in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, just before and after the recent Tigray conflict reached the study area.
Despite ambitious policies and well-intended programmes, food security and nutrition challenges persist around the world and are becoming more complex. Almost a third of the global population – 2.33 billion people – are food insecure, whilst at the same time we see rapidly rising rates of...
Poverty is bad for everyone. With millions around the world struggling to make ends meet and increased socioeconomic uncertainty making poverty a more probable prospect for many more, tackling poverty has never been more urgent.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsvlCGa1avY
Yet,...
Most economic operators in Africa are small and informal firms that fall under the purview of presumptive or simplified tax regimes (STRs). These taxes are expected to fulfil a range of functions, from raising revenue to facilitating formalisation and improving revenue authorities’ data, and...
Jeremy and I were colleagues at IDS for 16 years from 1981-1997, though he was there before me, and after. He was exceptional in many ways.
Jeremy was adventurous, seasoned and experienced. There was something about him of Wilfred Thesiger, T. E. Lawrence or Gertrude Bell: a love of 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).