Summer School 2013 begins

Group discussion on transitions and grassroots innovation Our annual Summer School has hit the ground running, with 40 students from around the world descending on Sussex to hear and challenge…

The GM debate should not be closed down to what is rational, but opened up to multiple rationalities…. A response to Chris Whitty and colleagues

  By Stephen Whitfield, PhD student, Institute of Development Studies (Knowledge, Technology and Society Team) Genetically modified rice / BASF   In a recent commentary published in Nature, Chris Whitty…

Public debate: Fuel poverty, climate change and social justice

Watch our lively public debate on fuel poverty, climate change and social justice. With Doug Parr, Jim Watson, Thurstan Crockett and Kirsty Alexander, chaired by Alice Bell. Watch the video (on YouTube) See photos…

STEPS Centre Summer School 2013

Our Summer School brought together an exceptional group of people who are exploring and developing ideas on pathways to sustainability. Through a mix of lectures, walks, discussions and public events, participants…

Bird Flu: Panic, Pandemics and Planning

A steady stream of reports about bird flu infection cases in China over the past month has given way in the past couple of days to panicked confirmations of deaths (27 as of today) and…

Mike Hulme on planetary boundaries and other metaphors

Spaceship Earth? Photo: NCC-1701-A by tram_painter on Flickr (cc-by-nc-nd) Prof Mike Hulme has a thoughtful post on the UEA’s 3S blog today on how metaphors affect the way we think…

Could the 3Ds breathe new life into farming systems research?

by Jim Sumberg, STEPS centre research fellow Hans Ruthenberg Hans Ruthenberg’s Farming Systems in the Tropics, first published in 1971, still stands as a classic. Through detailed and systematic treatment…

Pandemic Flu Controversies

How can a better understanding of the social, political, institutional and policy dimensions of pandemic control and preparedness planning help us deal with new outbreak controversies, such as the new H7N9 avian flu in…

DIG-IT Workshop: Dialogue on Inclusive Growth, Innovation and Technology

The DIG-IT Workshop on Inclusive Growth, Innovation and Technology – co-sponsored by the STEPS Centre – promoted a unique forum for discussion of alternative and interdisciplinary frameworks to improve our understanding…