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 UK Parliament’s International Development Committee has published the FCDO's own Equality Impact Assessment, compiled earlier this year to assess the impact of the significant cuts to the UK’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget for 2023-24.
Widely reported in the media, the...
Tigray in northern Ethiopia has been devastated by a brutal war since November 2020, which included a siege and blockade that stopped all communications and most essential services, along with humanitarian supplies.
A typical example of urban agriculture practised in Mekelle city during the...
How evidence is generated, shared and used underpins our drive to increase equity in knowledge production. We challenge knowledge hierarchies and explore ways to think more deeply about evidence and impact. Over the past year, that impact could be seen in IDS research influencing policy and...
Much has been written about industrialisation and the growth of economies transforming people’s lives, but little is written about how industrialisation can transform ethnicity within countries. In this episode of the IDS Between the Lines podcast, IDS Research Fellow Max Gallien, interviews...
Tax registration drives have become an increasingly popular intervention to expand the coverage of tax nets across sub-Saharan Africa. However, doubts have recently been casted on their impact, as there is increasing evidence that they do not lead to a substantial increase in revenue, and might...
The concept of ‘formalisation’ has been ubiquitous in development discourse and policymaking in the early twenty-first century. It has underpinned policy interventions and proposals from tax registration to property titling, and a range of measures intended to connect informal entities with...
Most people in low-income countries contribute substantially to the financing of local public goods through informal revenue generation (IRG). However, very little is known about how IRG works in practice. We produce novel evidence on the magnitude and regressivity of IRG and its relationship...
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are designed to leave no one behind. To achieve them, it is vital that people with disabilities are included in all aspects of development-focused work, including in research where the ethical implications must be considered carefully.
Article 31 of...
The Bishesta campaign – a menstrual health intervention for people with intellectual disabilities and their caregivers in Nepal, was developed to help improve menstrual health for this population in non-humanitarian settings.
The campaign was developed by the London School of Hygiene &...
In this episode of the IDS Between the Lines podcast, IDS Research Fellow Max Gallien, interviews Elliot D. Green about his book: Industrialization and Assimilation: Understanding Ethnic Change in the Modern World.
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The book and podcast explains how and why ethnicity changes...
The IDS International Initiatives are spaces for researchers, governments and civil society from diverse locations to share new perspectives on tackling global challenges. Below is a snapshot of some of the activity that has taken place over the last twelve months.
Brazil
The IDS Brazil...
The experiences of those fleeing from Sudan to South Sudan due to the current conflict are shaped by the complex socio-political dynamics within and between the two countries.
This briefing focuses on the historical and socio-political dynamics that need to be taken into consideration by...
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).