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.
Are designers doing development? Do development professionals practise design? Designers and development practitioners have in common that they try to (re)shape the future. They make financial, material, practical, processual, and institutional interventions to change lives and improve outcomes,...
Are designers doing development? Do development professionals practise design? Designers and development practitioners have in common that they try to (re)shape the future. They make financial, material, practical, processual, and institutional interventions to change lives and improve outcomes,...
Avian Influenza outbreaks have been making headlines over the last few months. This time, the news does not come from the so-called “developing world” where poultry production systems are informal and less organised. It comes from the US, and the UK, and not just from chicken farms but also...
Progressing clean energy transitions in fragile contexts—marked by conflict, political instability, economic crises, and climate related uncertainty —poses significant challenges.
Watch now
https://youtu.be/GrNiHLAn9Tw
How can ambitious climate action and inclusive, just energy...
This brief summarises key considerations regarding cross-border dynamics between the Republic of Burundi and the United Republic of Tanzania in the context of viral haemorrhagic fever (VHF) outbreaks in Tanzania and the Republic of Uganda.
On 13 January 2025, the World Health Organization...
Longstanding traditions around land and its use within and between families and amongst men and women are up for renegotiation in post-land reform Zimbabwe. Young people must balance cultural norms – sometimes insisted on by their elders – with the necessities of providing for the next...
This brief synthesises social and behavioural science (SBS) research on the use of vaccines during health emergencies in sub-Saharan Africa, including vaccines undergoing clinical trials (‘experimental vaccines’). There are outbreaks of mpox, Marburg virus disease and Ebola (Sudan virus...
India, touted as the world’s largest democracy, has been witnessing an erosion of its democratic fabric. Over the past decade, authoritarian tendencies have intensified, marked by the centralisation of power, the undermining of democratic institutions, and the silencing of dissent.
From...
Since Donald Trump entered the White House, the world has seen chaotic changes to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the biggest global development donor with critical programmes across the world. This was followed by the UK’s announcement of a planned reduction in...
This Working Paper analyses the emergence and evolution of three community-led initiatives focused on food insecurity, with the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and the ensuing cost-of-living crisis as the backdrop.
Watch now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mgw2B1ErNwk
Understanding how we achieve equitable wellbeing for all can be daunting in a world of rapidly shifting geopolitics, democratic systems failures, and gaping wealth inequalities. In this event we introduce the NOURISH initiative which...
13 March 2025
Why learn with us.
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).