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.
Join us for a two-hour Robert Chambers-inspired taster workshop to explore the potential of participatory methods for decolonising development practice.
Using methods from Robert Chambers workshops, we will work together to uncover and reflect on how participation can challenge entrenched...
The international meeting at Stockholm+50 (2-3 June) is a commemoration, and a time for bold action and engagement. It presents an opportunity to reflect, connect, accelerate and scale actions for a better future on a healthy planet with prosperity for all.
https://youtu.be/WXZvJQfz178
The...
In this episode of the IDS podcast Between the Lines, Ian Scoones and Andrea Cornwall, editors of the book Revolutionizing Development: Reflections on the work of Robert Chambers interview Robert Chambers about his work and legacy.
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The book – which has just been made open...
Interested in Development Studies? The University of Sussex is hosting a week-long online series of events from 25 April in which you can hear from leading academics and alumni about postgraduate study at Sussex and the Institute of Development Studies.
Ranked 1st in the world for Development...
The book Revolutionizing Development: Reflections on the work of Robert Chambers was first published in 2011. Just over a decade later it is now being re-launched in fully open access form, providing the opportunity for a wider range of readers around the world to understand Robert’s...
Editors and contributors to the book Revolutionizing Development: Reflections on the work of Robert Chambers in a hybrid event to celebrate its re-launch in open access form and discuss its implications for the future of development and development studies.
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As part of Revolutionising Development week at the Institute of Development Studies, colleagues and friends share their reflections on the work of Robert Chambers, who celebrates his 90th birthday in May.
Read the written testimonials
Watch the video testimonials
Kattie Lussier, McGill...
Purpose: The authors aim to draw lessons for research and policy from an exception(nal) case of a firm's international expansion in the seed market: Grupo Don Mario, a company originally from Argentina that supplies 20% of the soybean varieties used in the world. The authors describe the...
The CLEAR programme, led by IDS, is pleased to invite Expressions of Interest for grants which will support the generation of new evidence on the secondary impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. The evidence will support a national governance and policy response, improve...
In 2015 Robert Chambers advanced the idea of inclusive rigour for research and evaluation in response to complexity. Building on this and other resonant concepts, this session shows how the idea has been adapted and operationalised through experiences of research and evaluation practice, 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).