BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//STEPS Centre - ECPv6.15.20//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://steps-centre.org
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for STEPS Centre
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:UTC
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZOFFSETTO:+0000
TZNAME:UTC
DTSTART:20140101T000000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:Europe/London
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZOFFSETTO:+0100
TZNAME:BST
DTSTART:20120325T010000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0100
TZOFFSETTO:+0000
TZNAME:GMT
DTSTART:20121028T010000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZOFFSETTO:+0100
TZNAME:BST
DTSTART:20130331T010000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0100
TZOFFSETTO:+0000
TZNAME:GMT
DTSTART:20131027T010000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZOFFSETTO:+0100
TZNAME:BST
DTSTART:20140330T010000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0100
TZOFFSETTO:+0000
TZNAME:GMT
DTSTART:20141026T010000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZOFFSETTO:+0100
TZNAME:BST
DTSTART:20150329T010000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0100
TZOFFSETTO:+0000
TZNAME:GMT
DTSTART:20151025T010000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZOFFSETTO:+0100
TZNAME:BST
DTSTART:20160327T010000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0100
TZOFFSETTO:+0000
TZNAME:GMT
DTSTART:20161030T010000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160428T120000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160428T140000
DTSTAMP:20260412T161721
CREATED:20160413T131424Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T211510Z
UID:8465-1461844800-1461852000@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Seminar: Connor Cavanagh on responses to violent eviction
DESCRIPTION:Differentiated dispossession: ‘Hunter-gatherer’ responses to violent eviction from Embobut Forest Reserve\, western Kenya \nSeminar by Connor Joseph Cavanagh \nConvening Space\, Institute of Development Studies\nLibrary Road\, Falmer\, UK \n \nCritical scholarship on global land and ‘green’ grabbing has begun to examine the politics of variegation in diverse ‘responses from below’\, or the ways in which various particularities of place influence community reactions to land and resource acquisitions. These discussions are informed by a longstanding tradition of scholarship on the class dynamics of agrarian change\, or the ways in which processes of ‘dispossession from above’ via land acquisitions might intersect with processes of ‘dispossession from below’ in the form of gradual differentiation and rural class formation. In some cases\, however\, we argue that these analyses have not sufficiently historicized and disaggregated the concept of ‘community’ to reveal how variables such as gender\, land tenure\, and prevailing modes of production refract both the impacts of dispossession and the forms of resistance that emerge in its wake. Drawing upon ethnographic fieldwork on the case of the indigenous Sengwer community’s violent eviction from Embobut Forest Reserve in western Kenya\, we illuminate the ways in which \n\ni) dispossession for conservation entails novel consequences for communities that understand themselves as ‘hunters and gatherers’\, as opposed to agriculturalists or pastoralists\,\nii) how these consequences are themselves differentiated\, placing unique burdens on women\, youths\, and the elderly in particular. We conclude with a discussion of how such variegation in experiences of dispossession informs ongoing struggles for radically alternative modes of indigenous conservation in Embobut forest.\n\nAbout Connor Joseph Cavanagh\nConnor Joseph Cavanagh is currently a PhD Fellow in the Dept. of International Environment and Development Studies (Noragric) at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences\, and a Research Fellow in Science Domain 5 – Ecosystem Services at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in Nairobi. Broadly defined\, Connor’s research examines tensions and contradictions within processes of uneven conservation and development in eastern Africa\, with a specific interest on transformations in forest governance. Recent articles have appeared in Forum for Development Studies\, Antipode\, the Journal of Peasant Studies\, Forest Policy and Economics\, and Geoforum.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/seminar-connor-cavanagh-on-responses-to-violent-eviction/
LOCATION:Room 221\, Institute of Development Studies\, Library Road\, Falmer\, Brighton\, BN1 9RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Governance & policy,Resource politics,Seminars
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160411T120000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160411T133000
DTSTAMP:20260412T161721
CREATED:20160309T105801Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T211615Z
UID:8370-1460376000-1460381400@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Seminar: Helene Ahlborg on power and politics in energy transitions
DESCRIPTION:Towards a conceptualization of power and micro-level politics in energy transitions \nSTEPS Centre Seminar: Helene Ahlborg 12.00-1.30\, Monday 11 April 2016\nRoom C175 (Global Studies Resources Centre meeting room)\, Arts C\, University of Sussex \nHelene Ahlborg will share her research about rural mini-hydropower electrification in Tanzania  and societal transformation. She will explain why and how electrification processes simultaneously reinforce social inequality and enhance social mobility. \nAhlborg studies the co-development of technology and society and how the provision of electricity services\, based on small-scale renewable energy resources\, impacts on people’s lives and transforms rural communities. She also looks at how the local context and relations of power influence the electrification process and impact on the long–term viability of the energy system. \nHelene belongs to the interdisciplinary research group STEEP-RES (Socio-Technical-Ecological Evaluations of Potential Renewable Energy Systems) at Chalmers University of Technology\, Göteborg\, Sweden. Find out more about Helene Ahlborg. \nEveryone welcome!
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/seminar-helene-ahlborg-on-power-and-politics-politics-in-energy-transitions/
LOCATION:Global Studies Resource Centre\, Arts C175\, University of Sussex\, BN1 9SJ\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Climate change & energy,Seminars,Understanding sustainability
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160226T130000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160226T143000
DTSTAMP:20260412T161721
CREATED:20160203T110916Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T211932Z
UID:8257-1456491600-1456497000@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:How can the ecological impact of the richest 1% be reduced at a time of extreme inequality?
DESCRIPTION:Seminar with Dario Kenner\n1.00-2.30 Friday 26 February 2016\, IDS room 221 \nRecent research by Oxfam and French economists Thomas Piketty and Lucas Chancel indicates that the richest 1% of people in many countries\, including the United Kingdom\, have huge per capita carbon footprints compared to the rest of the population. The fact that richer people have a larger ecological impact is not that surprising. The question is what to do about it. Dario Kenner\, who has recently published a working paper on the inequality of overconsumption\, will talk about the difficulty in getting the richest 1% to reduce their negative impact on the environment. \nAbout Dario Kenner\nDario Kenner is an independent researcher who launched whygreeneconomy.org in 2013 as a space to share ideas on the policies that should be adopted to address climate change and biodiversity loss. He has extensive experience of working on the environment and in international development\, including lobbying at UN climate change conferences and Rio+20. He is a Visiting Fellow at the Global Sustainability Institute at Anglia Ruskin University. \nHosted by the Centre for Global Political Economy at the University of Sussex and the STEPS Centre.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/how-can-the-ecological-impact-of-the-richest-1-be-reduced-at-a-time-of-extreme-inequality/
LOCATION:Room 221\, Institute of Development Studies\, Library Road\, Falmer\, BN1 9RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Climate change & energy,Seminars
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20151210T123000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20151210T140000
DTSTAMP:20260412T161721
CREATED:20151204T085100Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T212837Z
UID:8114-1449750600-1449756000@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:STEPS Lunchtime Seminar: ‘The Making and Unmaking of Agricultural Knowledge’
DESCRIPTION:Please join us for an upcoming STEPS lunchtime seminar on ‘The Making and Unmaking of Agricultural Knowledge’\, given by Professor Glenn Davis Stone\, Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL)\, on Thursday\, 10th December 2015\, from 12.30-2pm\, at the IDS Convening Space. \nIn this talk\, Glenn Stone will draw on long-term research on various technological regimes in agriculture to advance our theory of agricultural decision-making and to stake out a set of key issues for upcoming research. In particular I focus on how different introduced technologies change farmer attitudes\, decision-making\, and understandings of agricultural phenomena. The talk will draw on Glenn’s long career of research in Nigeria and India as well as ongoing research in Philippines\, looking at the technological regimes surrounding transgenic cotton and various types of rice – hybrid\, heirloom\, and transgenic Golden Rice. \nAll welcome!  \n\nGlenn Stone is Professor of Sociocultural Anthropology and Environmental Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. He is known for his ethnographic work in Nigeria and India on small-scale farming and agricultural technology\, and particularly in recent years for his longitudinal studies on the impacts on farmers’ systems of seeds\, knowledge and learning (skilling) of transgenic Bt cotton in Andhra Pradesh (Telangana)\, India.\nYou can find more information about Glenn here:\nhttps://anthropology.artsci.wustl.edu/stone_glenn\nhttp://pages.wustl.edu/stone\nhttp://fieldquestions.com/ – this is Glenn’s entertaining and informative blog offering ‘the rest of the story on food\, farming and biotechnology’ \nGlenn is visiting Sussex on 10 & 11 December as a Visiting Fellow of the STEPS Centre\, hosted by Dr. Dominic Glover (d.glover@ids.ac.uk). If you wish to meet Glenn during his visit please contact Dominic to request an appointment.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/steps-lunchtime-seminar-the-making-and-unmaking-of-agricultural-knowledge/
LOCATION:Convening Space\, IDS\, Library Road\, Falmer\,  Brighton\, BN1 9RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Food & agriculture,Seminars
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20151127T130000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20151127T143000
DTSTAMP:20260412T161721
CREATED:20151013T082735Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T213257Z
UID:7876-1448629200-1448634600@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Seminar: ‘Development without Growth?’
DESCRIPTION:‘Development without Growth?’ \nRay Cunningham\, Jonathan Essex\, Tom Lines \nFriday 27th November\, 13.00 – 14.30\, Room 221\, Institute of Development Studies\nThis seminar is jointly held with the Resource Politics cluster at IDS.\n \nIn 2013\, the green think tank Green House published ‘The Post-Growth Project’\, which argues that economic growth\, as conventionally measured\, is over for the UK in anything but the very short term. It examines some of the many far-reaching implications of this insight\, which contradicts mainstream economic and political assumptions. The focus of the book is the implications for the UK. \nIn this seminar\, as well as outlining the core argument of the book\, we want to address the implications of the end of growth in the UK for its role in the global economy. Beyond that\, we want to open up the question of what an end to growth more widely in the ‘developed’ world will mean for the global economy and especially for ‘developing’ countries\, and indeed for our understanding of development as a concept. \nEveryone welcome! \nAbout Ray Cunningham\, Jonathan Essex\, Tom Lines\nRay Cunningham \nGreen House Coordinator\, joint editor of ‘The Post-Growth Project’\, former Director of the Anglo-German Foundation for the Study of Industrial Society. \nJonathan Essex \nOne of the authors of ‘The Post-Growth Project’\, a chartered engineer and environmentalist. He has worked for engineering consultants and contractors in the UK\, Bangladesh and Vietnam. He is currently a sustainability consultant at IMC Worldwide\, and a borough and county councillor in Surrey. \nTom Lines \nIDS graduate with 20 years’ international consultancy experience\, specialising in trade and finance as they affect poor countries. Previously a business journalist on commodity markets\, and lecturer in international business at Edinburgh University. \nThis is a locally-sourced event. Jonathan is based in Redhill\, while Ray and Tom both live in Brighton. \n\nPlease contact Annie Lowden (a.lowden@ids.ac.uk) for further details.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/resource-politics-cluster-seminar-development-without-growth/
LOCATION:Room 221\, IDS\, Library Road\, Falmer\, Brighton\, BN1 9RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Governance & policy,Resource politics,Seminars
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20151120T130000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20151120T144500
DTSTAMP:20260412T161721
CREATED:20151117T153735Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T213641Z
UID:8021-1448024400-1448030700@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:‘The ethos of scientific advice’ Seminar
DESCRIPTION:Arthur Peterson\, from STEaPP\, UCL\, will give a seminar on ‘The ethos of scientific advice’ as part of the SPRU Friday Seminar Series on Friday\, 20th November 2015. The seminar will be chaired by Andy Stirling (SPRU)\, and followed by a Roundtable on ‘Dilemmas of Uncertainty in the Politics of Science and Innovation’\, with James Wilsdon and Erik Millstone as panellists. \nThe seminar will begin at 1pm in the Lecture Theatre 144 in the Jubilee Building\, at the University of Sussex\, and end at approximately 2.45pm. \nAll welcome!  \nPlease note sandwiches will be available beforehand from 12:45pm. Coffee/tea/biscuits will be available from 2pm after a very short break\, introducing the discussion sessions. \n********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** \nAbstract:  \nThere are many theories that can inform analysis of how science advice is done or should be done. Here I define “science advice” as “practices involving individuals\, organisations and structures that mobilise natural and social scientific and engineering knowledge into public decision-making”. In this seminar\, I will demonstrate that although some theories are well elaborated\, empirical proof for the described changes\, roles and processes in scientific advice is limited. After reviewing literature and outstanding questions on roles of scientific advisors at local\, national and international levels\, I will offer a pragmatist analysis of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Subsequently\, I will assess capacity-building needs in science advice across a range of cultural and political contexts\, and governance scales: What skills do future science advisors and recipients of science advice need to deal responsibly with their tasks? I will conclude with presenting elements of an ethos of scientific advice\, which are based on experiences with implementing post-normal science at the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. \nBio: \nProfessor Arthur C Petersen (DPA PhD MA MSc) joined UCL STEaPP fulltime in September 2014 after more than 13 years’ work as scientific adviser on environment and infrastructure policy within the Dutch Government. Most recently he served as Chief Scientist of the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (2011–2014).\nArthur is also Adjunct Professor of Science and Environmental Public Policy at the VU University Amsterdam (since 2011) and Research Affiliate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (since 2009)\, and has been Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science (2009–2014) and at UCL STEaPP (January–August 2014).\nArthur studied physics and philosophy\, obtained doctorate degrees in atmospheric sciences (Doctor of Philosophy – PhD\, Utrecht University\, 1999) and philosophy of science (Doctor of Public Administration – DPA\, VU University Amsterdam\, 2006)\, and now also finds disciplinary homes in anthropology and political science. Most of his research is about managing uncertainty. \n 
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/the-ethos-of-scientific-advice-seminar/
LOCATION:SPRU\, Jubilee Building\, University of Sussex\, Falmer\, Brighton\, BN1 9SL\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Governance & policy,Seminars,Technology & innovation
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20151116T130000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20151116T143000
DTSTAMP:20260412T161721
CREATED:20151104T132606Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T213419Z
UID:7973-1447678800-1447684200@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:STEPS Centre Seminar “Will Africa Feed China?”
DESCRIPTION:The STEPS Centre Seminar on ‘Will Africa Feed China?” was by Professor Deborah Bräutigam and took place at the IDS Convening Space\, on 16th November 2015\, 13:00-14.30.  \nAudio recording: \n \nIs China building an empire in rural Africa? China has nine percent of the world’s arable land\, six percent of its water\, and over 20 percent of its people. Africa’s savannahs and river basins host expanses of underutilized land and water. Some believe that China is buying up African land to grow food to ship back home. \nIn her book Will Africa Feed China?\, Deborah Bräutigam probes the activities behind headlines. Challenging conventional wisdom\, she finds that Chinese farming investments and land acquisitions are surprisingly limited. China exports more food to Africa than it imports. Will this change? As Africa pushes for foreign capital\, China encourages its agribusiness firms to “go global”. International concerns about “land grabbing” are justified. Yet to feed its own population\, Africa must move from subsistence to commercial agriculture. What role will China play? Will Africa Feed China? introduces the state-owned Chinese agribusiness firms that pioneered African farming in the 1960s and entrepreneurial private investors who followed. Their fascinating stories\, and those of African farmers and officials\, ground Bräutigam’s informative\, balanced reporting. Forcefully argued and empirically rich\, Will Africa Feed China? will be a landmark work\, enlightening China’s quest for food security and Africa’s possibilities for structural transformation. \nAll welcome!  \n\nDeborah Bräutigam is the Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of Political Economy\, Director of the International Development Program\, and Director of the China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. She is the author of The Dragon’s Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa and many studies on Chinese engagement in Africa. Previously\, she served as Director of the Economic and Political Development Program at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and Professor at American University’s School of International Service. In addition to advising over a dozen governments on China-Africa relations\, she has served as visiting scholar at the World Bank and senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute. Her book—Will Africa Feed China?— will be published in October 2015 by Oxford University Press.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/steps-centre-seminar-will-africa-feed-china/
LOCATION:Room 221\, Institute of Development Studies\, Library Road\, Falmer\, Brighton\, BN1 9RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Food & agriculture,Resource politics,Seminars
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20151006T130000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20151006T143000
DTSTAMP:20260412T161721
CREATED:20151002T094452Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T213817Z
UID:7845-1444136400-1444141800@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Seminar: Ocean management - linking satellite and socio-economic data
DESCRIPTION:‘Ocean management: Linking satellite and socio-economic data to inform sustainability’  \nEleni Papathanasopoulou and Hayley Evers-King \nKNOTS meeting area\nInstitute of Development Studies\n1-2.30pm on 6 October 2015 \nOceans are playing an increasingly important role in countries’ development strategies to address issues such as food security\, unemployment and poverty. Aquaculture has been identified as one of the priority areas for these strategies and investment. However\, it is unclear where aquaculture farms should be located and what their potential socio-economic impacts will be. \nThis talk explores how satellite and socio-economic data can be linked and used to address these uncertainties for England\, Scotland and South Africa. It will describe the data and images produced by satellite systems in terms of its temporal and spatial resolutions\, ability to identify areas of high water quality\, harmful algal blooms and monitor environmental change. The benefits of superimposing socio-economic information\, such as employment and industries’ economic contributions\, onto these satellite images and their use in sustainability analyses will be presented and explored in terms of the added value in combining these datasets. The next steps in developing a web-based visualisation tool to host and provide the capability to query the project’s data will be discussed. \nAll welcome. \nAbout Dr Papathanasopoulou and Dr Evers-King\nDr Eleni Papathanasopoulou is an economist based at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory using input-output\, general equilibrium and macroeconomic perspectives to assess the impacts of changes in the environment to whole economic and social systems. She has recently applied these approaches to estimate the economic impacts of harmful algal blooms (HABs) in England\, health cost savings of aquatic physical activities and the social implications of changes in coastal communities. She holds an ESRC-Satellite Applications Catapult fellowship (2015-16) which is funding the work being presented. \nDr Hayley Evers-King is a marine Earth observation scientist at Plymouth Marine Laboratory specialising in the development of novel algorithms and applications for ocean colour satellite data. Her research has involved detection of high biomass (HABs) in South Africa\, and assessments of interannual variability of these blooms in coastal regions with developing aquaculture and fishing industries. She is developing capacity for coastal water quality remote sensing using the new generation of high and medium resolution Earth observation satellites. \n 
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/seminar-ocean-management-linking-satellite-and-socio-economic-data/
LOCATION:Room 100\, Institute of Development Studies\, Library Road\, Falmer\, BN1 9RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Resource politics,Seminars,Water
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20150911T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20150911T143000
DTSTAMP:20260412T161721
CREATED:20150903T085039Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T214053Z
UID:7732-1441976400-1441981800@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:STEPS Seminar: 'Resource Politics: Future Directions'
DESCRIPTION:Room 221\, Institute of Development Studies\, Library Road\, Falmer\, BN1 9RE\, UK \n‘Resource Politics: Future Directions’ \nDianne Rocheleau and Kathleen McAfee \nA critical resource politics can contribute to reframing conservation sciences to bring science into the service of social and ecological justice. To this end\, many of us are challenging the fetish of economic growth and the market-centric logic that has come to dominate ‘pragmatic’ environmentalism. \nBut are better ways of knowing and acting possible? As political ecologists\, we can explore the various expressions of ‘living well’/in harmony with the living world\, to develop a useful response to the creative initiatives of social movements throughout the world. Resource politics can address ecological and cultural defense\, and alternative visions of the future\, from indigenous practices and politics to “degrowth” approaches. \nAn engaged resource politics can challenge the systematic oppression and the lethal inertia of global systems in the face of climate change\, land and resource grabbing\, and widespread contamination\, while contributing to new repertoires of knowledge and practice. \nAbout the speakers \nDianne Rocheleau is Professor of Geography and Director of the Global Environmental Studies program at Clark University. She has previously worked on forestry\, farming and development alternatives with international\, national and local organizations. She currently writes about and works with communities and movements who defend territory and complex human ecologies while building socially just and ecologically viable futures. \nKathleen McAfee (San Francisco State University\, USA) has long experience in community and global-justice activism and policy analysis (Oxfam\, UN agencies). Her academic work focuses on “selling nature to save it”\, the political economy and ecology of ecosystem services and carbon markets\, and alternatives to export-dependent\, growth-based\, market-centered development.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/steps-seminar-resource-politics-future-directions/
LOCATION:Room 221\, Institute of Development Studies\, Library Road\, Falmer\, Brighton\, BN1 9RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Resource politics,Seminars
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20150715T160000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20150715T173000
DTSTAMP:20260412T161721
CREATED:20150706T130415Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T214544Z
UID:7564-1436976000-1436981400@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:STEPS Seminar: Yixin Dai - Chinese Renewable Energy Policy
DESCRIPTION:‘Chinese Renewable Energy Policy – Policy Implementation\, and Participation’ \nYixin Dai\, School of Public Policy and Management\, Tsinghua University \nIn order to reach its ambitious emissions targets\, China has been promoting renewable energy through a series of top-down policies since 2006. Recent successes have seen wind turbine installation capacity exceed 100GW in 2014\, and nuclear installation capacity reach 23GW in June 2015. The questions are: can we attribute this to strong central government? What is the role of local implementation in promoting renewable energy policies? Will any bottom-up effort influence future development of Chinese renewable energy policy?  This seminar addresses these questions by drawing on two of the speaker’s papers on the implementation gap and perception gap in Chinese renewable energy (RE) policy development. \nYixin Dai is an assistant professor in School of Public Policy and Management\, Tsinghua University. Her research interests focus on theory of innovation and technology transfer\, technological innovation in the environment and energy area\, and technology governance. Her current research studies different low carbon innovation paths between China and other parts of the world\, technology governance at local levels\, as well as the national innovation system in China.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/yixin-dai-chinese-renewable-energy-policy/
CATEGORIES:Climate change & energy,Seminars,Technology & innovation
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20150611T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20150611T143000
DTSTAMP:20260412T161721
CREATED:20150603T101611Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T214804Z
UID:7434-1434027600-1434033000@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Community-led Total Sanitation (CLTS): Challenges of Nation-wide Scaling up and Sustainability
DESCRIPTION:This event will be live streamed (see below) and a video recording will be available afterwards.\n \nSince its innovation in Bangladesh in 2000\, Community-led Total Sanitation (CLTS) has spread to more than 65 countries across Asia\, Africa and Latin America where more than 400 million people are now living in open defecation free (ODF) environments. \nDr Kamal Kar\, the pioneer of CLTS\, will speak about the challenges of nationwide scaling up of CLTS\, especially in the run up to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with a particular focus on new strategies of some African nations on national scaling up. He will also discuss second and third generations challenges of CLTS susch as sustainability\, inclusion and waste containment. \nLive stream below:
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/kamal-kar-clts-june2015/
LOCATION:Room 221\, Institute of Development Studies\, Library Road\, Falmer\, Brighton\, BN1 9RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Health & disease,Seminars
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20150514T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20150514T140000
DTSTAMP:20260412T161721
CREATED:20150413T135804Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T215001Z
UID:7245-1431608400-1431612000@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:STEPS Seminar: Nora McKeon on Food Security Governance
DESCRIPTION:‘Food Security Governance: empowering communities\, regulating corporations’ \nSeminar with Nora McKeon. All welcome. \nTerra Nuova\, Board Member\, Roma 3 Masters in Human Development and Food Security\, Lecturer\, West African Network of Peasant and Agricultural Producers’ Organizations (ROPPA)\, Technical Adviser \nToday’s global food system generates hunger alongside of land grabs\, food waste\, health problems\, massive greenhouse gas emissions. Nora McKeon’s new book explains why we find ourselves in this situation and explores what we can do to change it. In her talk she will review how the international community (mis)handled food issues since WWII up to the food crisis of 2007-2008\, privileging short term national or private interests over long-term public goals of equity and sustainability. She will contrast how actors link up in corporate global food chains – in which producers\, consumers and the environment are the losers – and in the local food systems that are considered to be “alternative” but in fact feed most of the world’s population. She will explain how the financial and structural power of corporations\, allied to discourse that portrays their approach to meeting the world’s food needs as “modern” and “productive”\, allows them to set the rules to their advantage. She will point out the perils of “scientific evidence-based” decision-making when it intrudes on the terrain that properly belongs to political process and value-based debate. \nThe author will describe how people around the world are organizing to protect their access to resources and build better ways of food provision\, in what is increasingly referred to as a food sovereignty movement. The United Nations Committee on World Food Security – a uniquely inclusive global policy forum since its reform in 2009 – could be supportive of these efforts in pursuing its mandate to defend the right to food of the world’s population. The talk will conclude with a call to blow the whistle on speculative capitalism by building effective public policy instruments for accountable governance and extending their authority to the realm of regulating markets and corporations. \nAbout Nora McKeon \nNora McKeon studied history at Harvard and political science at the Sorbonne before joining the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations where she directed the organization’s relations with civil society. A major focus of her work was opening FAO up to civil society/social movements.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/steps-seminar-nora-mckeon-food-security-governance/
LOCATION:Convening Space\, Institute of Development Studies\, Library Road\, Falmer\, Brighton\, BN1 9RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Food & agriculture,Governance & policy,Seminars
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20150508T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20150508T163000
DTSTAMP:20260412T161721
CREATED:20150213T111141Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T215513Z
UID:7021-1431093600-1431102600@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Seminar: Low carbon innovation paths in Europe and Asia:  Divergence or Convergence?
DESCRIPTION:IDS/SPRU/STEPS Seminar \nThe current technological shift from high to low carbon development coincides with a geographical shift: the rapid expansion of green production and innovation capacity in China and India. This constellation gives rise to the question: to what extent\, how and why do the innovation paths in Europe and in Asia differ? \nThe seminar focuses on this question and presents the findings of new comparative research on renewable energy and electromobility. It is based on a joint project of the German Development Institute\, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi\, Tsinghua School of Public Policy and Management\, and Institute of Development Studies. \nParticipants: \n\nHubert Schmitz (IDS) What are the issues? Why are they important?\nRasmus Lema (Aalborg) Europe-Asia comparison: renewable energy\nTilman Altenburg (DIE/GDI) Europe-Asia comparison: electromobility\nAdrian Ely (SPRU-STEPS) Moderator
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/seminar-low-carbon-innovation-paths-europe-asia-divergence-convergence/
LOCATION:Room 144\, Jubilee Building\, University of Sussex\, Falmer\,  BN1 9SL\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Governance & policy,Seminars,Technology & innovation
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20150414T110000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20150414T130000
DTSTAMP:20260412T161721
CREATED:20161111T165438Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T215601Z
UID:7182-1429009200-1429016400@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Innovation for Sustainability  in a  Changing China: Exploring  Narratives and Pathways
DESCRIPTION:Adrian Ely and Sam Geall\, STEPS Centre / SPRU\n14 April 2015 at 11am – 1pm\nVenue tbc \nChina is the global leader in renewable energy investment and has adopted ambitious targets for low carbon development. Given the environmental impacts of the country’s current development trajectories and China’s increasing role as a source of innovation \, progress towards these targets are of vital importance to the whole world. \nThis seminar will explore some of the key political narratives that have underpinned China’s policies in these areas\, and in wider debates around sustainable development. At the same time\, we outline emerging Chinese narratives around the concept of innovation\, and the ways these link to environmental objectives. Drawing on theoretical insights from work in the STEPS Centre (Leach et al 2010) that investigate the role of power in shaping narratives\, knowledge and action around specific ‘pathways to sustainability’\, we explore the ways in which dominant policy narratives in China are driving particular forms of innovation for sustainability\, and potentially occluding or constrainin g others. \nThis event is part of the Sussex China Seminar Series. Participants are asked to register in order to attend.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/innovation-for-sustainability-in-a-changing-china-exploring-narratives-and-pathways/
LOCATION:tbc
CATEGORIES:Climate change & energy,Seminars,Understanding sustainability
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20150317T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20150317T143000
DTSTAMP:20260412T161721
CREATED:20150311T162521Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T220104Z
UID:7135-1426597200-1426602600@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:The inclusive turn of neoliberal conservation? Opportunities and threats of REDD+ in Tanzania
DESCRIPTION:Seminar by STEPS visiting fellow Andreas Scheba \nThe rise of new markets\, or market-like instruments\, in the realm of nature conservation is a key feature of global discourse and strategies around the ‘green’ economy. Innovative ways of measuring\, valuing and trading nature have emerged that enjoy increasing support among public and private stakeholders. At the same time\, critical scholarship has warned against the problematic and contradictory logic of what they call ‘neoliberal conservation’\, raising valid questions of: How does pricing nature contribute to its protection? Who benefits from the new commodities? Who loses? What has politics got to do with it? \nThis seminar will investigate these questions in the context of REDD+ in Lindi\, Tanzania. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in two remote\, forest-dependent villages\, I will discuss how and why neoliberal conservation emerges and manifest itself in a deprived rural context; and what effects it has on forest governance\, rural livelihoods and conservation practice. \nThe role of discourse\, politics and power over forest resources will be critically examined\, both currently and in a historical perspective. The findings of my analysis will lead me to argue for an ‘inclusive’ turn in neoliberal conservation that offers both opportunities and challenges for sustainable democratic futures. \nAndreas Scheba is an Austrian born\, early-career researcher who recently completed his PhD in Development Policy and Management at the University of Manchester. His doctoral thesis examined the politics and development effects of REDD+ in the Lindi region of Tanzania\, for which he conducted ethnographic research in two remote\, forest-dependent villages.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/the-inclusive-turn-of-neoliberal-conservation-opportunities-and-threats-of-redd-in-tanzania/
LOCATION:Room 221\, Institute of Development Studies\, Library Road\, Falmer\, Brighton\, BN1 9RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Resource politics,Seminars
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20150223T123000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20150223T140000
DTSTAMP:20260412T161721
CREATED:20150210T144611Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T220211Z
UID:7007-1424694600-1424700000@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Seminar: Sustainable Development at a Crossroad: Transformation of the Industrial State during a Perfect Storm
DESCRIPTION:STEPS/SPRU seminar \nNicholas A. Ashford\, PhD.\, JD. \nProfessor of Technology and Policy and Director of the Technology and Law Program\nMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). \nThe most important barriers to achieving a transformation to a more sustainable industrial system is lock-in or path dependency due to (1) the failure to envision\, design\, and implement policies that achieve co-optimization\, or the mutually reinforcing – rather than the compromising – of societal goals (economic welfare\, environmental quality\, and employment/earning capacity) and (2) entrenched economic and political interests that game (and gain from) the present system and advancement of its current trends. System-wide change requires system-wide thinking and action. \nSound legislative and programmatic changes\, and an independent judiciary\, are compromised by gridlock\, corruption\, and diversionary tactics while the debates we should be having are sidestepped by the media and self-serving political maneuvering. Sustainable development requires both technological and institutional changes\, while ‘opening up the participatory and political space’ to enable new voices to contribute to integrated systems thinking and solutions. Societal innovations and transformation are also needed but they are insufficient by themselves to transcend technical\, economic\, financial\, and political lock-in. However\, technology is neither the major barrier nor the solution. Financial and political reform is key to accomplishing both. \nInsights from Prof Ashford’s recent book with Ralph Hall: Technology\, Globalization\, and Sustainable Development: Transforming the Industrial State (2011\, Yale University Press) will inform the presentation.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/sustainable-development-at-a-crossroad-ashford/
LOCATION:Arts A04\, University of Sussex\, Falmer\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Seminars
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20141008T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20141008T190000
DTSTAMP:20260412T161721
CREATED:20140922T080712Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T221622Z
UID:6620-1412787600-1412794800@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Andrew Simms - Cancel the Apocalypse: New Pathways to Sustainability
DESCRIPTION:Public lecture organised by the Centre for Global Political Economy and the STEPS Centre at the University of Sussex \nEver get the feeling that things are falling apart? You’re not alone. From bad banks to global warming it can all look hopeless\, but what if everything could turn out\, well\, even better than before? What if the only thing holding us back is a lack of imagination and a surplus of old orthodoxies? \nIt’s a topsy-turvy world in which a country can import the same amount of ice-cream\, toilet paper and other goods to trading partners as it exports\, and where top bankers are paid millions for destroying economic value\, while hospital cleaners create value many times their pay. \nIn fascinating and iconoclastic detail – on everything from the cash in your pocket to the food on your plate and the shape of our working lives – Cancel the Apocalypse describes how the relentless race for economic growth is not always one worth winning\, how excessive materialism has come at a terrible cost to our environment\, and hasn’t even made us any happier in the process. \nSimms believes passionately in the human capacity for change\, and shows how the good life remains in our grasp. While global warming and financial meltdown might feel like modern day horsemen of the apocalypse\, Simms shows how such end of the world scenarios offer us the chance for a new beginning. \nAndrew Simms is the author of several books\, including Ecological Debt\, The New Economics and the bestselling Tescopoly. He is the chief analyst on the environment at Global Witness\, and was NEF’s policy director for over a decade\, founding its work programme on climate change\, energy and interdependence. He trained at the London School of Economics and was described by New Scientist Magazine as\, ‘a master at joined-up progressive thinking.’ The Independent newspaper listed him as one of the UK’s top 100 environmentalists and London’s Evening Standard included him in their Power 1000 as one of the capital’s most influential people.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/andrewsimms/
LOCATION:Fulton A Lecture Theatre\, University of Sussex\, Falmer\, Brighton\, BN1 9RH\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Seminars,Understanding sustainability
ORGANIZER;CN="Harriet Dudley":MAILTO:h.dudley@ids.ac.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20140704T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20140704T143000
DTSTAMP:20260412T161721
CREATED:20140624T134246Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210404T164311Z
UID:6436-1404478800-1404484200@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:STEPS Seminar: Daniel O’Connor on the use of social media in health research
DESCRIPTION:‘The Apomediated World: The Ethical Challenges of Using Social Media in Health Research’ \nSTEPS Seminar with Daniel O’Connor\, PhD\, Head of Humanities and Social Science at the Wellcome Trust \n \n\nSTEPS Seminar: Dan O’Connor – The ethical challenges of using social media in health research by Stepscentre on  Mixcloud \n\nSocial media such as blogs\, wikis\, discussion forums\, ratings sites and online social networks like Facebook and Twitter\, are completely changing the ways in which lay people and health professionals create\, share and understand health information. We can now find\, discuss and even review diagnoses\, symptoms and treatments with pretty much anyone\, anywhere in the world\, almost instantly. The transformation from just a decade ago is astounding. This seminar will explore the ethical challenges that this transformation raises for health research in particular. \nDrawing on examples of emerging uses of social media in health research (including patient-led research\, crowdsourcing and social recruitment practices) Dr Dan O’Connor\, Head of Humanities and Social Science at the Wellcome Trust\, will argue that existing research ethics frameworks\, concerned as they are with vertical power differentials\, may be inadequate to deal with those ethical challenges. In their place he proposes an ‘ethics of apomediation’ in which the moral concerns of power differentials are replaced with those of a horizontal peer-to-peer system.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/steps-seminar-daniel-oconnor-use-social-media-health-research/
LOCATION:Room 221\, Institute of Development Studies\, Library Road\, Falmer\, Brighton\, BN1 9RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Health & disease,Research methods,Seminars
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20140520T121500
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20140520T140000
DTSTAMP:20260412T161721
CREATED:20140512T135722Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T223050Z
UID:6291-1400588100-1400594400@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:STEPS Seminar: Kamal Kar on Community-Led Total Sanitation
DESCRIPTION:‘The Potential of Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) in achieving an Open Defecation Free (ODF) World’ \nKamal Kar\, Chairman CLTS Foundation  \nThis event will be livestreamed (see embedded video below). \nThe UN seeks to eliminate the practice of open defecation entirely by 2025. Since its innovation in Bangladesh in 2000\, Community-led Total Sanitation (CLTS) has spread to more than 56 countries across Asia\, Africa and Latin America where more than 35 million people are now living in open defecation free (ODF) environments. CLTS has also been mainstreamed in the sanitation policies of several African countries. More than 80 countries are now ODF. Still\, 1 billion people continue to defecate in the open and 82% of them live in just 10 countries with India continuing to be the country with the highest number of people (597 million) defecating in the open. Nigeria has also seen the largest increase in numbers of open defecators since 1990\, with 39 million people defecating in the open in 2012\, compared with 23 million in 1990.  It is well known that open defecation causes disease spread and also increases the vulnerability of millions of women and girls around the world. \nDr Kamal Kar\, the pioneer of CLTS\, will speak about the potential of the CLTS approach in achieving the sanitation MDG with a special focus on Africa. He will highlight the progress made by nations in running the last mile until December 2015 and will also discuss second and third generation challenges of CLTS such as sustainability\, waste containment and the politics of scaling up. For the benefit of those who are not very conversant with the CLTS approach\, he will also focus on its key principles and methodology. \nFree entry – all welcome.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/steps-seminar-kamal-kar-community-led-total-sanitation/
LOCATION:Room 221\, Institute of Development Studies\, Library Road\, Falmer\, Brighton\, BN1 9RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Health & disease,Seminars
ORGANIZER;CN="ESRC STEPS Centre":MAILTO:b.ayre@ids.ac.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20140502T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20140502T140000
DTSTAMP:20260412T161721
CREATED:20140424T144635Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T223429Z
UID:6255-1399035600-1399039200@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Seminar: The Politics of Integrated Water Resources Management in Africa
DESCRIPTION:1.00-2.00 Friday 2 May 2014\nConvening Space\, Institute of Development Studies\nAll welcome \nSpeakers include: \n\nAndrew Tarimo (Sokoine University of Agriculture)\nEmmanuel Manzungu (University of Zimbabwe)\nBill Derman (Noragric)\nAlex Bolding\, (Wageningen University)\nBarbara Van Koppen (IWMI\, South Africa)\nSynne Movik (NIVA)\nAlan Nicol (Global Water Initiative)\n\nSince the early 1990s\, Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) has been the dominant paradigm in water resources management. IWRM adoption has led to water reform and the rewriting of national policies in many countries in southern Africa. \nIn this seminar we draw on findings from the project Flows and Practices: The Politics of IWRM in Africa to ask: Why has IWRM been so influential in southern Africa? How do abstract ideas of IWRM which evolved in global institutions cope with plural\, overlapping and competing formal and informal legal and customary systems in southern Africa? Has IWRM succeeded in addressing issues concerning equity\, class\, race and gender and in reallocating water in an equitable way?  What does this mean for overall development and poverty reduction? \nPresenters will address these questions by drawing on ongoing research in South Africa\, Zimbabwe\, Mozambique and Tanzania.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/seminar-politics-integrated-water-resources-management-africa/
LOCATION:Room 221\, Institute of Development Studies\, Library Road\, Falmer\, Brighton\, BN1 9RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Resource politics,Seminars,Water
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20140425T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20140425T143000
DTSTAMP:20260412T161721
CREATED:20140414T090221Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T223631Z
UID:6229-1398430800-1398436200@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:STEPS Seminar: Ted Schrecker on Labour arbitrage\, financial fallout\, expulsions
DESCRIPTION:Labour arbitrage\, financial fallout\, expulsions: Exploring the mechanics of the inequality machine\nTed Schrecker\, Professor of Global Health Policy\, Durham University\n \n\nSTEPS Seminar: Ted Schrecker on Labour arbitrage\, financial fallout\, expulsions by Stepscentre on  Mixcloud \n\n“The inequality machine is reshaping the planet”\, in the words of the editor of Le Monde Diplomatique. In this presentation Ted addresses three aspects of that machine’s operation.  Labour arbitrage is perhaps the most familiar\, and now penetrates the labour markets even of the ‘core’ high income nations\, underscoring the need to shift from what William Robinson calls “territorial” to “social” cartographies in the study of development.  Post-2008\, the significance of financial fallout is superficially self-explanatory\, but it is important to go beyond short-term analysis of the recent crisis and its aftermath to consider the consequences for inequality of the underlying shift in power toward the owners of finance capital.  The category of expulsions\, drawn from the work of Saskia Sassen\, refers to the removal of people who are “in the way” of more profitable uses of land or resources; Ted examines gentrification and the large-scale purchase and lease of agricultural land by foreign actors as case studies.  Together\, these interconnected processes cause us to rethink our conceptions of the global\, present formidable challenges for development and the reduction of health inequities\, and demand new strategies for both research and resistance. \nTed’s academic background is in political science\, and he has taught that discipline as well as environmental studies and population health (at the doctoral level) at three Canadian universities. For the past decade his research has addressed the consequences of transnational economic integration (globalisation) for health and health equity\, currently from a broadly Marxist (but empirical) perspective.  He also has a long-standing interest in issues at the interface of science\, ethics\, law and public policy.  \n 
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/schrecker/
LOCATION:Room 221\, Institute of Development Studies\, Library Road\, Falmer\, Brighton\, BN1 9RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Governance & policy,Seminars
ORGANIZER;CN="Harriet Dudley":MAILTO:h.dudley@ids.ac.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20140325T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20140325T143000
DTSTAMP:20260412T161721
CREATED:20140312T112708Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T223744Z
UID:6100-1395752400-1395757800@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:STEPS Seminar: In the Eye of a Cyclone: The Dialectics of Social and Environmental Change in the Sundarban Delta
DESCRIPTION:Dr Debojyoti Das\, ERC Post-Doctoral Research Associate\, Dept. of History\, Classics and Archaeology\, Birkbeck\, University of London \nTropical Cyclones are a yearly event in the Bay of Bengal coastal seaboard. The deadliest cyclones in the world have formed here\, including the 1970 Bhola super cyclone\, which killed 500\,000 people. The misery and destruction caused by cyclones along the coast of Bengal has been greater than anywhere else in the world\, and the environmental and social problems that set the stage for disaster continue to be exceptionally severe. There is very little interest among social scientists in India to study cyclones from a range of disciplinary perspectives: historical\, anthropological and economic. The extensive and sophisticated historiographies of environment in India do not deal at all with maritime hazards. Therefore\, it is a case in point to analyse cyclones from a critical political\, economic and ecological standpoint \nI contend in this presentation that cyclone disasters\, like any other natural calamity owing their origin solely to natural causes\, are also politically and socially produced. Like revolutions and wars\, they are moments of extreme stress that can reveal the underlying structures of social and political life. I want to rethink the cyclone in the Sundarban delta as trans-national disaster—as an event that are shaped\, and in some sense created\, by the unequal power relations characteristic of British imperial policies and the consequence of political violence triggered by partition and the creation of Bangladesh during 1947 and 1971 respectively\, that led to the forced migration of people across the newly created national boundaries. There is a dialectical relationship between nature\, society and disaster that lead to environmental change with deep impact on marginalised communities. \nEveryone Welcome!
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/stepsseminardas/
LOCATION:Convening Space\, Institute of Development Studies\, University of Sussex\, Brighton\, BN1 9RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Climate change & energy,Seminars
ORGANIZER;CN="Harriet Dudley":MAILTO:h.dudley@ids.ac.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20140311T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20140311T143000
DTSTAMP:20260412T161721
CREATED:20140304T103842Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T224016Z
UID:6096-1394542800-1394548200@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:STEPS Seminar: Changing political climates: Chinese environmental journalism and sustainable development
DESCRIPTION:Sam Geall\, Research Fellow SPRU and executive editor Chinadialogue\nChina’s current leadership recently made “Beautiful China” and “Ecological Civilization” two of its most prominent official slogans and enshrined sustainable development as core state policy\, but what are the dynamics of this drive for “low-carbon development” and how are those dynamics framed? \nExploring how Chinese environmental journalists make framing decisions around the science and politics of climate change helps to illustrate how spaces for political engagement have emerged in a restrictive and changeable media and governance environment\, one that not only reflects a changing history of attitudes towards the environment in China\, but also debates within the international arena of sustainable development. \nSam Geall is Research Fellow at SPRU\, working on Low Carbon Innovation in China: Prospects\, Politics and Practice\, an international research project led by Lancaster University\, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and an affiliate project of the STEPS Centre. Sam is also Executive Editor of chinadialogue.net\, editor of China and the Environment: The Green Revolution (Zed Books: 2013)\, and was recently the International Coordinator of a Special Policy Study for the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED). \nEveryone welcome! \n 
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/samgeallseminar/
LOCATION:Room 221\, Institute of Development Studies\, Library Road\, Falmer\, Brighton\, BN1 9RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Climate change & energy,Governance & policy,Seminars
ORGANIZER;CN="Harriet Dudley":MAILTO:h.dudley@ids.ac.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20140115T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20140115T143000
DTSTAMP:20260412T161721
CREATED:20131217T115935Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T224516Z
UID:5889-1389790800-1389796200@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:STEPS Seminar: Bruce Lankford on Resource Efficiency\, Complexity and the Commons
DESCRIPTION:Resource Efficiency Complexity and the Commons: The Paracommons and Paradoxes of Natural Resource Losses\, Wastes and Wastages\nBruce Lankford\, Professor of Irrigation and Water Policy\, School of International Development\, University of East Anglia\nThe efficient use of natural resources is key to a sustainable economy\, and yet the complexities of the physical aspects of resource efficiency are poorly understood. In a recent Routledge book\, the author analyses resource efficiency and efficiency gains from the perspective of common pool resources\, applying this idea particularly to water resources and its use in irrigated agriculture. In a world of increasing scarcity\, the tracking\, amount and ownership of ‘saved’ resources while controlling for rebound (where savings lead to consumption elsewhere) will be of increasing importance as exemplified by Norris (2011) “… the United States Supreme Court’s recent decision in Montana v Wyoming brings to the forefront one of the most complicated and contested facets of irrigation efficiency: who owns the rights to the conserved water?” \nThe book proposes the concept of “the paracommons”\, through which the savings of increased resource efficiency can be viewed. In effect this asks; “who gets the gain of an efficiency gain?” By reusing\, economising and avoiding losses\, wastes and wastages\, freed up resources are available for further use by four ‘destinations’; the proprietor\, parties directly connected to that user\, the wider economy or returned to the common pool. The paracommons is thus a commons of – and competition for – resources salvaged by changes to the efficiency of natural resource systems. \nDuring the presentation\, ‘liminality’ will be explored signalling the in-betweenness of systems caught between overly optimistic prefigurations of future efficiencies and disappointing outcomes. \n All welcome.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/bruce-lankford/
LOCATION:Room 221\, IDS\, Library Road\, Falmer\, Brighton\, BN1 9RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Resource politics,Seminars
ORGANIZER;CN="Harriet Dudley":MAILTO:h.dudley@ids.ac.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20140114T110000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20140114T120000
DTSTAMP:20260412T161721
CREATED:20140110T161642Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T224554Z
UID:5924-1389697200-1389700800@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:STEPS Seminar: Paul Richards on social cohesion in Sierra Leone
DESCRIPTION:‘Clash of Institutions? Researching Social Cohesion in a Post-Conflict Agrarian Society (Sierra Leone)’ \nPaul Richards \nVisiting Professor\, School of Environmental Studies\, Njala University\, Sierra Leone; Emeritus professor of Technology and Agrarian Development at Wageningen University\, The Netherlands; Honorary Professor at the University College of London (UCL). \nEscaping from poverty depends on the rules governing access to vital resources. Rural societies are a historically determined mix of varied and sometimes competing “formal” and “informal” institutions. \nThe focus of this research is to investigate whether a “clash of institutions” is a factor determining poverty in Sierra Leone\, with a specific focus on land\, labour\, seeds and rural credit.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/steps-seminar-paul-richards-social-cohesion-sierra-leone/
LOCATION:Room 121\, Institute of Development Studies\, Library Road\, Falmer\, UK
CATEGORIES:Food & agriculture,Governance & policy,Seminars
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20131204T123000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20131204T140000
DTSTAMP:20260412T161721
CREATED:20131111T112601Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20131111T112601Z
UID:11118-1386160200-1386165600@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:STEPS Seminar: Aid on the Edge of Chaos
DESCRIPTION:Ben Ramalingam\nResearch Associate\, Overseas Development Institute and STEPS Centre Visiting Fellow at IDS \nIt is widely recognised that the foreign aid system is in need of drastic change. But there are conflicting opinions as to what is needed. Some call for dramatic increases in resources\, to meet long-overdue commitments\, and to scale up what is already being done around the world. Others point to the flaws in aid\, and bang the drum for cutting it altogether. Meanwhile\, growing numbers are suggesting that what is most needed is the creative\, innovative transformation of how aid works. Aid on the Edge of Chaos (published by Oxford University Press) is firmly in the third of these camps. \nBen Ramalingam shows that the linear\, mechanistic models and assumptions on which foreign aid is built are inadequate in the dynamic\, complex world we face today. Instead\, he argues that a new approach embracing the ‘new science’ of complex adaptive systems can make foreign aid more relevant\, more appropriate\, more innovative\, and more catalytic. His findings are based on insights\, experiences and remarkable results of practitioners who are already putting these principles into action.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/steps-seminar-ramalingham-2/
LOCATION:Convening Space\, IDS\, Library Road\, Falmer\,  Brighton\, BN1 9RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Seminars
ORGANIZER;CN="Harriet Dudley":MAILTO:h.dudley@ids.ac.uk
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR