Podcast: Forest of Thought – Andy Stirling on ‘imaginations of control’

In our age of converging environmental, ecological, and health crises, decision-makers and commentators often state we need to “listen to the science”. But what structures lie beneath these assumptions of…

A manifesto for models: New Nature Comment article

A new comment article in Nature by a group of authors, including STEPS co-director Andy Stirling (SPRU), takes the form of a ‘manifesto’ for responsible mathematical modelling. This relates to…

Andy Stirling on Covid-19, modernity and control: video

STEPS co-director Andy Stirling gave an online talk on 15 May 2020 exploring ideas about modernity and the ‘futilities of control’, in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. The talk…

butterfly

IDS podcast: The Politics of Green Transformations

In this month’s edition of the Institute of Development Studies podcast, Between the Lines, IDS Director Melissa Leach, STEPS co-director Ian Scoones and Sussex professor Peter Newell discuss their co-edited…

compilation of multiple exposure images with trees, glass and road sign

Uncertainty, politics and science

STEPS co-director Andy Stirling has written a series of three blog posts to introduce the STEPS Centre’s theme for 2019: Uncertainty. In the series, he explores how uncertainty is framed…

pastoralist with sheep in a mountainous landscape

How do pastoralists handle uncertainty? Insights from Asia, Europe and Africa

Pastoralists are experts in uncertainty. In a series of 3 blog posts, STEPS director Ian Scoones reports back from visits to the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, Isiolo (Northern Kenya) and…

Food Brexit

A Food Brexit: Time to get real

The UK is unprepared for the most complex ever change to its food system, which will be required before Brexit, according to a new briefing paper published by SPRU, titled…

A group hold up sheets with notes and maps they have drawn.

Small grants call announced for ‘nexus governance’ research in Southern Africa

The ‘Governing the Nexus in Southern Africa’ project has announced a call for small grants (up to £2,500 GBP) to cover field work expenses on research into nexus governance in…

Debating Open Data and Land Governance – 6-20 September

From 6-20 September, 2016, the Land Portal Foundation and the Cadasta Foundation will be jointly holding a debate on Open Data and Land Governance: Increased accountability and transparency as a means to overcoming poverty