Controlling the climate? Public debate on geoengineering
The Old Market 11A Upper Market Street, Hove, United KingdomAs climate change intensifies, some scientists suggest the need for a 'plan B' if immediate emissions reductions don’t prove feasible. Research into geoengineering (the large scale intentional manipulation of the climate) has begun, and includes research into technologies that might enable us to cool the planet by shielding some sunlight from the earth, or technologies...
Investing in Food security? Philanthrocapitalism, biotechnology and development
Jubilee Lecture Theatre 144 Jubilee Building, University of Sussex, BrightonSally Brooks, University of York This paper traces the evolution of philanthropic involvement in developing country agriculture from the ‘scientific philanthropy’ of the Rockefeller Foundation during and after the Green Revolution era to the ‘philathrocapitalism’ of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, by examining two cases of ‘pro-poor’ agricultural biotechnology research: pro-Vitamin A-enriched ‘Golden Rice’...
COP19 side event: Beyond Technology Transfer
Torun Room (B3), National Stadium Al. Ks. J. Poniatowskiego 1, WarsawThe STEPS Centre's energy and climate change co-convenor Dr Rob Byrne is presenting at a side event for COP19 entitled: Beyond Technology Transfer: Insights for the Technology Mechanism from low C energy policy research, organised by The Sussex Energy Group (University of Sussex) and SusTec (ETH Zurich) Summary Low-carbon technology transfer is a central aim of...
Our Future in the Anthropocene
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences , SwedenSTEPS Centre director Melissa Leach will be giving a talk entitled 'science-governance challenges in the Anthropocene’ as part of a half-day seminar, Our Future in the Anthropocene, hosted by the Stockholm Resilience Centre and Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics. The other speakers are: Staffan Normark, Permanent Secretary the Royal Swedish Academy of Science (introduction) Will Steffen, chair...
STEPS Seminar: Aid on the Edge of Chaos
Convening Space, IDS Library Road, Falmer, Brighton, United KingdomBen Ramalingam Research Associate, Overseas Development Institute and STEPS Centre Visiting Fellow at IDS It 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...
STEPS Seminar: Paul Richards on social cohesion in Sierra Leone
Room 121, Institute of Development Studies Library Road, Falmer, UK‘Clash of Institutions? Researching Social Cohesion in a Post-Conflict Agrarian Society (Sierra Leone)’ Paul Richards Visiting 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). Escaping from poverty depends on the rules governing access...
STEPS Seminar: Bruce Lankford on Resource Efficiency, Complexity and the Commons
Room 221, IDS Library Road, Falmer, Brighton, United KingdomResource Efficiency Complexity and the Commons: The Paracommons and Paradoxes of Natural Resource Losses, Wastes and Wastages Bruce Lankford, Professor of Irrigation and Water Policy, School of International Development, University of East Anglia The efficient use of natural resources is key to a sustainable economy, and yet the complexities of the physical aspects of resource...
Seminar: Adrian Smith on the Lucas Plan
Room G22, SPRU Jubilee Building, University of Sussex, Brighton'Recalling the Lucas Plan: what can an old movement for socially useful production tell us about democratising technology today?' Adrian Smith, STEPS Centre/SPRU 5 February 2014 1pm, room G22, SPRU Jubilee Building, University of Sussex Adrian Smith will be presenting his work on the Lucas Aerospace Shop Stewards Alternative Corporate Plan, also known as the...
Grassroots Innovation Movements workshop, Delhi
Unnamed Venue Delhi, IndiaThis workshop will bring together researchers, activists and policy-makers to learn from one another about grassroots innovation movements. The workshop is organised by Dinesh Abrol at Centre for Studies in Science Policy at Jawaharlal Nehru University in colaboration with Adrian Smith, Elisa Arond, and Mariano Fressoli (all from the project, Grassroots Innovation: Historical and Comparative...
STEPS-JNU Symposium: Exploring Pathways to Sustainability
Our 2014 Annual Symposium, ‘Exploring pathways to sustainability’, is being co-organised with the Centre for Studies in Science Policy at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and will be held on 10-11 February at JNU. The 2014 Annual Symposium will focus on the theme of ‘pathways to sustainability’. Our participants will consider how particular mainstream, development interventions emerge...