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.
At IDS we are passionate about our rich legacy of participatory methods, and we believe that PAR is more important than ever in the current context of complex and polarising challenges.
It is a methodology that brings different perspectives into dialogue, helps to identify systemic issues and...
Rachna Vyas came to IDS in September 2023 to study MA Governance, Development & Public Policy. She shares how she was supported to set up a space for other first-generation learners (students whose parents did not attend university), and the difference this has made to her time at IDS.
Before...
Rachna Vyas, IDS student, MA Governance, Development & Public Policy
As part of a research project focusing on the territories of North and South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, artists and researchers came together to discuss their understandings of the notions of humanitarian and civilian protection, and gender-based violence. This book presents...
Climate change is perhaps the greatest challenge facing humanity, set to reverse the gains made in human development. Yet policy discussions are too often reduced to physical impacts and technical or economic fixes. In the process, root causes and wider development priorities are often...
Many IDS members, including my colleagues from the Food Equity Centre, are participating in G20 and T20 processes – running alongside the G20. IDS is a member of the International Advisory Council and is participating actively with leadership roles within task forces, as well as through policy...
The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) has ‘made substantial progress with the merger that created it’ but its ‘development capacity has reduced’ and improvements are still required in areas such as culture change, finds a new National Audit Office (NAO) report...
In the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic and its associated massive upheaval, what enabled research findings to influence policy in real-time? What kind of funding and partnership model could support the rapid generation of evidence such as the research that informed the South Africa National AIDS...
We are thrilled to host the launch for the book Smugglers and States, with an introduction by its author Max Gallien, followed by a drinks reception.
Watch now
https://youtu.be/0FWfe5rBxhw?si=2lOkA3QZMkb_xGrs&t=86
Smuggling is typically thought of as furtive and hidden, taking place under...
This paper reviews the existing literature and related debates on gender and tax in lower income countries. It identifies knowledge gaps, and maps broader issues that are relevant for understanding the gendered impact of taxation.
Linking short-term relief and long-term sustainable development has long been an important policy ambition. Yet too often, humanitarian responses in the face of disasters become detached from building and strengthening livelihood systems. How can this disconnection be solved in...
The Land Deal Politics Initiative (LDPI) is hosting an International Conference on Global Land Grabbing in Bogota, Colombia with partners including the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Cornell University, City University of New York, International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), The...
The political debates about the rights and wrongs of Zimbabwe’s land reform continue to occupy many. The tired, old obsession about how the land was taken and the associated focus on so-called ‘cronies’ persists, despite much evidence to suggest that the process was highly varied 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).