Welcome to the STEPS centre website

Who benefits from GM crops? Will we have enough water to last this century? What are the implications of the HIV/Aids pandemic?

In an era of unprecedented social, environmental and technological change STEPS (Social, Technological and Environmental Pathways to Sustainability) is linking environmental sustainability and technology with poverty reduction and social justice.

We are a global research and policy engagement centre, funded by the ESRC, bringing together development studies with science and technology studies.

 

New on the site

Climate change & development

To concide with the climate change summit in Copenhagen, STEPS Centre director Prof. Melissa Leach talks on the Guardian's new Climate change and you site, about how to pay the climate change bill. The site also features our research on water and sanitation.
Video: Melissa Leach on climate change
Climate change and you (The Guardian)
The social life of water (The Guardian)

Manifesto: New videos, reports and blogs

Our programme of global roundtable events is in full swing, with a host of multimedia material from events in the Netherlands, Kenya and Nigeria available to view on the Innovation, Sustainability, Development: A New Manifesto website.
Netherlands: 3TU.Centre for Ethics and Technology roundtableNigeria: African Science Manifesto and roundtable event
Kenya: Roundtable events with ACTS and TWAS
Comment about our Manifesto project on the blog

The Publics of Public Health - Kilifi, Kenya, Dec 2009

Find out about the fascinating debates at this STEPS co-convened conference examining "the changing politics of knowledge and life in Africa" by reading Melissa Leach's blogs.
Melissa Leach blogs from Kilifi
Our work on health
Our work on Epidemics

New publications: Maize; Water reform; Vaccines

Our new Working Papers look at repsonses to climate change by maize farmers in Kenya; discourses around water reform; and how vaccine knowledge builds, from the laboratory to the field.
Maize Working Paper (pdf 817kb)
Water Allocation Reform Working Paper (pdf 1.82mb)
Vaccines Working Paper (pdf 514kb)
Briefing - Reforming Water Rights (pdf 239kb)

Elinor Ostrom's Nobel Prize

Elinor Ostrom has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for her work on economic governance and the commons. Lyla Mehta and Melissa Leach discuss her pioneering work.
Our work on Governance
Our work on Dynamics

Manifesto: New background papers

13 new papers have been written for our Innovation, Sustainability, Development: A New Manifesto, 40 years after the Sussex Manifesto helped shape thinking on science and technology for development.
Background papers for the Manifesto
Event: 3TU.Centre for Ethics and Technology, The Hague

Manifesto: Symposium video, podcast and more

At the STEPS Symposium delegates filmed recommendations to the UN on innovation for sustainability and development. Blogs, presentations and photos from the event are also online now.
Presentations from Symposium speakers
Blogs from the Symposium
Video vox pop from the Symposium
Podcast from the Symposium
Photos from the Symposium

Manifesto: Wiki-timeline

Contribute quickly and easily to our new wiki-timeline, a living archive tracing over 50 years of events and publications on science, technology and innovation for development.
Wiki-timeline - contribute to 50 years of science & technology for development
Multimedia, Padmashree Gehl Sampath's seminar

New publication: the peri-urban edge of sustainability

For the first time in history more than 50% of the world population lives in built up areas. Our new Working Paper explores sustainability challenges, drawing on our work in peri-urban Delhi.
New Working Paper - On the Edge of Sustainability: Perspectives on Peri-urban Dynamics
Fiona Marshall blog: What does peri-urban sustainability mean in the context of Delhi?

Health: Beyond Scaling Up

The STEPS Centre and its affiliate Future Health Systems are launching a a series of activities challenging prevailing concepts of “scaling up” in the health sector.
STEPS health work
Lawrence Haddad, IDS director, on scaling up in the health sector
Bamako: Health pathways for the poor
Eldis resource guide on future primary health care
How we work with our health affiliates
Gerry Bloom on health challenges in rural China

New project: Beyond Biosafety

Our new pilot project aims to open up debates about biosafety, focussing on Kenya and the Philippines, which have been seen as regional ‘test cases’ for biotechnology and biosafety regulatory development.
New! Nature article: Africa's biotechnology battle -Scoones & Glover

Water and sanitation

The STEPS water team held an event at World Water Week in Stockholm in August, using case studies from our peri-urban work in Delhi and Community-Led Total Sanitation
Blog from World Water Week in Stockholm
Presentations from Stockholm
Podcast of STEPS session at World Water Week
Photos from World Water Week

 

Biotechnology Research Archive

Our Biotechnology Research Archive spanning 10 years of research and a new paper on Bt Cotton by Dominic Glover are launched at a 'Dangerous Ideas in Development' event in London on June 10.
Nature article: Africa's biotechnology battle -Scoones & Glover
Biotechnology Research Archive
Working Paper: Undying Promise: Agricultural Biotechnology's Pro-Poor Narrative, Ten Years On
Briefing: Transgenic cotton; a 'pro-poor' success?
Ian Scoones' backgrounder, GM Crops: 10 Years On
Dominic Glover on the Undying Promise
id21 Viewpoints: GM Crops
Eldis Biotechnology Key Issues Guide
Podcast: GM Crops and the Global Food Crisis event, June 10
Photos from GM Crops event in Parliament

 

Indian Knowledge Society Debates

Read reports from our events in Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore, debating visions of a knowledge society bringing science, technology and innovation to the forefront of politics, democracy and public life.
Report on the Knowledge Society debates
Report and materials from New Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad
Special issues of Seminar
Media coverage

 

Swine Flu: Governing global health in an age of epidemics

Will an ‘active, aggressive, and coordinated response’ to swine flu work? Ian Scoones, STEPS Co-director, writes in The Guardian on the emerging infectious disease.
Ian Scoones on Swine Flu's emerging lessons
Our blogs on swine flu
Our Epidemics project
Melissa Leach on disease dynamics in Sierra Leone
Epidemics for all? Our project featured in Health reporter
Working papers on Epidemics, Ebola and Avian Flu
Slideshare: Erik Millstone on Obesity and Jerker Edstrom on AIDS

On the blog: GM, climate change, health economics, Aids

All the news and views on our projects and the issues surrounding them. From the latest GM research, COP15, health events in China, Aid for Aids and food production in Africa. It's all here.

Environmental change and maize in Kenya

Maize is an important staple crop in Kenya, socially, politically and economically. Our project uses maize to explore responses to climate change, market uncertainties and land use changes over time.
New! Maize Working Paper (pdf 817kb)
Photos from our maize fieldwork

Avian 'flu in SE Asia - new publications

Four new papers on the political economy of avian flu in Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia and Viet Nam have just been published as part of a STEPS-affiliated project, supported by the FAO.
New SE Asia publications
Avian Flu Working Paper and briefing
Epidemics project: pathways of disease and response k

Farmer First Revisited book and event

Farmers are in the front line of climate change, globalization and food security. This new book - launched in Nairobi by UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner - calls for a major rethinking of agricultural R&D focussing on farmer-led innovations.
22 April - London book launch and Dangerous Ideas seminar
Photos from Nairobi book launch
Multimedia & wiki-timeline, podcasts, papers, radio & photos from Farmer First Revisited workshop

Just published

Among the latest STEPS Working Papers to be published are four SE Asian country studies of avian flu, Regulation, GM Crops, Resilience, Ebola, Epidemics and Transitions.
Bite-sized briefings are available as companions to our Papers

Care to share?

Our Slideshare page makes it even easier to download and share presentations from our seminar series and more, including Andy Stirling on the governance of technological vulnerability.
New! Jo Chataway on Below the Radar Innovation

Reframing Resilience

The STEPS Centre has been engaging with resilience thinking and exploring practical implications for policy in agriculture, water, peri-urban dynamics, epidemics and regulation
New! Resilience working paper and briefing
Resilience resources for the STEPS Symposium

STEPS Seminar Series: Spring 2009

Francis Johnson, Fred Steward and Fabian Scholtes have kicked off our 2008-09 seminar series. Podcasts, presentations, photos and blogs from our seminars are available on the STEPS seminar page.
Material from previous STEPS seminars
Upcoming events

Hitting the headlines

Reuters, BBC World Service, International Herald Tribune, New Era, the Guardian, New Scientist, New Agriculturist, The Lancet and AllAfrica.com are among the media outlets who have covered our work recently.
Ian Scoones talks to Veterinary Times on livestock revolution
Melissa Leach talks to The Lancet about STEPS' work
Sign up for our daily Media Briefing

Kofi Annan backs our work on a 'Green Revolution in Africa'

Kofi Annan chaired a new vision for agricultural development in Africa conference, hosted by STEPS affiliate the Future Agricultures Consortium and the Salzburg Global Seminar.
Newsletters, media, photos, blog and more from this event
UN World Food Summit: news and views on our blog

STEPS video channel: bringing our work to life

Watch people involved different aspects of the STEPS Centre's work explain thier views on our YouTube channel.
Our video

Rethinking regulation in China and Argentina

One of our five flagship projects is comparing the regulation of two technologies - transgenic cotton seeds and antibiotics - with the way those technologies are experienced amongst poorer communities in rural Argentina and rural China.
Reconsideración de la normativa: las semillas y las drogas en China y Argentina

Update: Livestock revolution

A workshop report and a presentation by William Wolmer on trends, challenge and opportunities for rural devlopment and livestock in Botswana. Part of our project on policy options for trade, veterinary and food safety standards, disease control and management in southern Africa.
William Wolmer - Rural development and Livestock
Policy briefings / Briefings Politique
Pretoria workshop
Video interview

 

More news

• STEPS news page
• Blog from World Water Forum in Istanbul
  
• CLTS conference
  
• Photos from the CLTS conference
• Debating the Future: Ian Scoones on the IAASTD
• Sanitation Scandal: World Water Week
• The Knowledge Society Debates The STEPS Centre held a series of events across India in January 2009 asking what ‘knowledge society’ means and whose knowledge counts in building science and technology futures?
• Find out about our affiliate partners
• Sanitation Scandal - the priorities for World Water Week 2008
• Avian 'flu: the politics and policy processes of a global response - a new STEPS affiliate project with FAO and DFID
• Building pathways to a more secure future Melissa Leach writes for the ESRC's The Edge magazine on securing a safer, sustainable and more equitable world
• Accommodating dissent Melissa Leach argues in Nature magazine and on the Nature podcast
• What's the Beef? Ian Scoones talks to Developments Magazine
• Beefing up for a Revolution IRIN, Africa, cover our work
• Focus on water, sanitation and hygiene To mark UN Sanitation and Hygiene Week, our researchers and partners have written about the challenges ahead
• Journal articles by STEPS members
  
  

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