Many policy makers, journalists and politicians are keen to celebrate the ‘pro-poor success’ of genetically modified (GM, transgenic) crops in developing countries. However, a detailed look at the evidence reveals…
Transgenic cotton: a ‘pro-poor’ success?
Reframing Resilience
In a world where threats – linked to climate change, epidemic disease, or fluctuating financial markets – loom ever larger, resilience thinking highlights the complex dynamics of social-economic- environmental systems,…
One World, One Health? Learning from the International Response to Avian Influenza
In 1997, 18 people were infected with the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus, H5N1. Six died, and since then a further 245 deaths have been reported. The virus has spread…
Pathways to Sustainability: the STEPS Centre approach
How do we deal with the spread of HIV/ AIDS or avian ‘flu? How can farmers in dryland Africa cope with the challenges of climate change? How do we address…
Peri-urban sustainability
Over the last five years, the ESRC STEPS Centre has explored the management of resources in peri-urban areas, and how sustainability can be defined and sought in this context. We…
Rethinking Regulation: international norms and local realities
Technologies are finding their way to more remote and diverse corners of the globe, bringing with them significant opportunities for human development, but also risks – to individuals, the environment,…
Pathways in and out of maize
In a region where droughts and other extreme weather events are common, maize is central to food security for most households across East and Southern Africa. From national policy to…
Beyond Scaling Up: Pathways to Universal Access to Health Services
Abstracts go here
Understanding Peri-urban Sustainability: The role of the resilience approach
Resilience is a term that is widely used by scholars from different disciplines who promote action research between science and policy. This paper is largely concerned with how resilience approaches…
The Dynamics and Sustainability of Community-led Total Sanitation (CLTS): Mapping Challenges and Pathways
Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) represents a radical alternative to conventional top-down approaches to sanitation and offers hope of achieving the Millennium Development Goals. In contrast to state-led initiatives to improve…