Borders and maps are such a defining feature of modern civilisation that we can’t live without them. At the same time, many of us are subject to the mischievous urge to test, push and redefine them. It’s no coincidence that religious language plays on this tension: sins used to be commonly referred to as ‘transgressions’…
Borders and resources: “Across this line, you do not…”
From COP21 to antibiotics: all the latest news from STEPS
Resources to help make sense of climate change in the run up to COP21 feature in our latest newsletter, packed with new projects, publications and events. Read all about it: Summer 2015 Newsletter
Political Ecology: resources, power and justice
With conceptual roots in political economy and cultural ecology, as well as close relationships with development studies and science and technology studies, the multidisciplinary field of political ecology shares a number of theoretical and methodological complementarities with the STEPS Centre’s pathways approach. In early September 2014, the Lancaster Environment Centre at Lancaster University hosted an…
STEPS-JNU SYMPOSIUM: Nexus narratives – water politics in Asia
By Ian Scoones, Co-Director, STEPS Centre The fourth panel at the STEPS-JNU Symposium focused on the highly contested narratives around how water is stored and accessed in Asia, with cases from Nepal, Laos, and Thailand. As Uttam Sinha from The Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi, commented, Asia is facing a “hydrological moment”…
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 China? Useful resources about pandemic influenza, including material from the STEPS Centre and Sussex University Centre for Global Health Policy’s recent Pandemic Flu Controversies workshop which discussed lessons,…
Credibility Across Cultures: resources
A set of resources relevant to the STEPS Centre Annual Symposium 2013 Credibility across cultures: expertise, uncertainty and the global politics of scientific advice Symposium home | Video | Presentations | Photos | Storify | Blog Science and uncertainty Article: Keep it Complex. When knowledge is uncertain, experts should avoid pressures to simplify their advice. Render decision-makers…
Pandemic Influenza: Resources
Books Scoones, I. (ed.) (2010) Avian Influenza: Science, Policy and Politics, London: Earthscan Routledge. Elbe, S. (2010) Security and Global Health, Polity Press Dry, S. and Leach, M. (eds.) (2010) Epidemics: Science, Governance and Social Justice, London: Earthscan: Routledge. (Includes Scoones, I., Fighting the flu: Risk, uncertainty and surveillance) Projects: Pharmaceuticals and Security: The Role…
Video and slides: Kate Raworth, Oxfam on planetary boundaries
10th October 2012: ‘A safe and just space for humanity: can we live within the doughnut?’ Kate Raworth, Senior Researcher at Oxfam, gave a STEPS Centre seminar at the Institute of Development Studies. Humanity’s challenge in the 21st century is to ensure that every person has the resources needed to realise their human rights, while ensuring…
Beyond Rio Resource Centre
Research and expertise on the key Rio+20 issues in a new Beyond Rio Resource Centre. For more than 20 years the University of Sussex and the Institute of Development Studies have been working together to address the global challenges of poverty reduction, social justice and environmental sustainability. On the University of Sussex Climate Change Network website the STEPS…
More epidemics resources
Our blogs on swine flu Ian Scoones on Responding to Pandemic Threats (April 2010) The lessons of swine flu: Ian Scoones, The Guardian, 10 May 2009. A longer version is available on our blog Blog: Ecology and infectious disease dynamics – from the forests of Sierra Leone by Melissa Leach, 6 April 2009 STEPS work…