“We are as gods, and might as well get good at it.” — Stewart Brand, The Whole Earth Catalog, 1968. A self-published occasional ecology magazine, which ran from 1968-1974 (with…
First issue of the Whole Earth Catalog
Joseph Schumpeter: Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 1942
The work within this book has been an important building block towards the understanding of innovation. In this seminal book, Schumpeter first identified the notion of creative destruction. Schumpeter used…
“Scientific Research and Social Needs” by Julian Huxley, 1934
Julian Huxley’s book “Scientific Research and Social Needs“, which was published in 1934, deals with British science efforts, with particular reference to social needs. He sees science as a social…
Farmer First Revisited
In the context of current complex and urgent needs for agricultural innovation, effective research and development systems and efficient adaptation methods are required in both advanced and developing economies. This…
Decorating the Christmas tree with perfect Sustainable Development Goals?
By Katharina Welle, STEPS Centre PhD student The 2013 STEPS Symposium on “credibility across cultures” examined questions surrounding ‘best available’ scientific advice in relation to global policy processes on sustainable…
Why don’t we know how to control the spread of Lassa fever?
Researchers in Sierra Leone are looking at how to prevent Lassa fever – a particularly nasty haemorrhagic virus which can wipe out entire households – by controlling the multimammate rat,…
Crossing swords over science
Kendo practice / gratapictures / Flickr (cc-by-nc) By Nathan Oxley, STEPS Centre Why do words matter in the politics of science? The topic of language kept coming back again and…
STEPS Seminar this Wednesday: climate and resettlement in Mozambique
This week’s STEPS Centre seminar will be with Alex Arnall of the University of Reading. Alex will discuss how, in one area of Mozambique, narratives about adapting to climate change…
What role does the scientific community have in post-2015 debates?
ECOSOC, from unisgeneva’s photostream on Flickr by Pedro Telles, MA student, Institute of Development Studies Those who work in the development field currently find themselves in tricky debates around the…
Fear of flying: the uneasy marriage of numbers and risk
STEPS Centre co-director Prof Andy Stirling has written an article for the Guardian‘s new blog, Political Science, about how using numbers to communicate risk can create a false sense of…