STEPS centre

Our Research

An overview of the STEPS Centre approach

Approach paper front cover Melissa Leach, Ian Scoones and Andy Stirling have written a short overview of the STEPS Centre approach. The booklet outlines our approach to understanding dynamic systems and addressing thier goverance so as to promote pathways to Sustainabilty that meet the perspectives and priorities of poor and marginalised groups. It lays out the ingredients of the STEPS Centre's work, including linking diverse social and natural science perspectives, connecting theory, policy and practice and an engaged, interactive approach to communications. Pathways to sustainability: An overview of the STEPS Centre approach (pdf 694kb)

What is the Pathways approach?

Our unique new ‘pathways’ approach aims to understand the complex, non-linear interactions between social, technological and environmental systems. Some pathways may threaten poor peoples’ livelihoods and health while others create opportunities for sustainability.
Find out more about the 'pathways' approach

Our Projects:

The STEPS Centre is initially working on five large projects on issues that cross-cut the agriculture, water and health domains and designs, governance and dynamics themes. Linked to regional hubs, this first two-year cycle of field-based projects will allow for the development of in-depth partnership, communications and influencing relationships in regions around the world.

Research Projects: cutting across domains & themes

Crop, disease and innovation in Africa - focussing on dryland Kenya, maize and farming system dynamics in areas affected by climate change.
Urbanisation in Asia - urbanisation and sustainability in Asia's growing cities, on the expanding peri-urban fringe of a major city, indicative of conditions for an increasing proportion of global poor.
Rethinking regulation -addressing the gap between current assumptions about regulation in the cases of drugs, seeds and water in China and Latin America, and more complex realities.
Risk, uncertainty and technology - how different institutions and groups frame and respond to risks and uncertainties in areas of rapid scientific and technological advance.
Epidemics, livelihoods and politics - HIV-AIDS, SARS, avian flu, BSE - procedures for addressing epidemics that support rather than compromise poor people and support social justice.

These preliminary project ideas will developed during 2007 by STEPS project teams through interaction with 'hub' partners, while building a wider network of researchers and users locally and nationally.

Each of these projects would involve elements of all three themes and all three domains, with varying emphasis. This will facilitate the development of cross-cutting analysis, and iteration between project work and thematic development.

Project objectives

To pursue cross-domain issues and perspectives: Key dynamics and sustainability challenges involve the interaction of agricultural, health and water-related processes. Major intellectual and policy opportunities exist to connect 'sectoral' debates and perspectives that, to date, have often remained separate.
To ensure depth of partner and user engagement: The Centre's analytical and normative aims required genuine partnerships involving cross-cutting conceptual and analytical work as well as projects. Capacity-building, communication and influencing policy can be better met through