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Our theme for 2019 is Uncertainty.
Everyone is talking about uncertainty. Decision-makers often treat all kinds of uncertainties as if they are risks, with probabilities that can be calculated. But sustainability involves other kinds of uncertainties – whether they’re due to incomplete evidence, complexity, divergent values, scientific disagreement, gaps in knowledge or the simple possibility of surprise.
Uncertainties can make it hard to plan ahead. But recognising them can help to reveal new questions and choices. Through a series of events and learning activities linked to research, during 2019 we will explore responses, methods and action to open up new pathways to sustainability in an uncertain world.
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Embracing uncertainty: what are the implications for sustainability and development?
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In this introductory blog post, STEPS co-director Ian Scoones discusses six vital areas for sustainability that are affected by uncertainty. What are the implications for alternative visions, science and policy, distribution and justice, ecologies, governance and methods?
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Views on uncertainty
Art, uncertainty and system change
In this essay, Becky Ayre draws on cultural theory and examples of creative works to reflects on the relationship between art and systemic change, and how art makers and audiences could embrace uncertainty – in advance of a new collaborative project, the System Change Hive.
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Views from the coast: uncertainty beyond climate change
The impacts of climate change and storms are particularly visible in coastal areas. But these places face a tangle of interconnected uncertainties beyond the climate and the weather. In this blog post, Nathan Oxley explores some of the changes faced by a fishing community in the ‘Maximum City’ of Mumbai.
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Symposium: The Politics of Uncertainty
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This invitation-only international academic symposium in July 2019, to be held on the campus of the University of Sussex in the UK, will explore the theme of uncertainty across diverse domains – from finance, to climate, to migration, to disease, to innovation, to infrastructure, to security.
Confirmed speakers include Sheila Jasanoff, Gabe Mythen, Joy Zhang, Jerry Ravetz, Shiv Visvanathan and Brian Wynne, among many others.
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Sussex Development Lectures
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The current theme in this flagship lecture series for development studies across the University of Sussex is Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals – Synergies and Tensions. The 2019 talks, which include two lectures by STEPS members, are also recorded and livestreamed online.
Climate and development: A tale of two crises
Peter Newell, School of Global Studies, University of Sussex
14 March at 5pm
The SDGs: A new politics of transformation?
Ian Scoones, STEPS Centre co-director/Institute of Development Studies
28 March at 5pm
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Uncertainty events
A series of talks and discussions on the theme of uncertainty, hosted by the STEPS Centre.
Professor of International Finance, Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver (USA), and author of the award-winning book, “When Things Don't Fall Apart: Global Financial Governance and Developmental Finance in an Age of Productive Incoherence”
7 May 2019 at 1pm
Institute of Development Studies
Other events
14 May at 5.30pm
University of Sussex
Agency and Multilevel Pathways: The Transformation Lab in the Xochimilco Social-Ecological System
11 February at 1pm
Room 101, Institute of Development Studies
Calls and announcements
Call for abstracts: International research symposium on Post-automation
11-13 September
Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU), University of Sussex
Call for abstracts: Writeshop/workshop on Critical Agrarian Studies
1-7 July, Beijing
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TAPESTRY focuses on three 'patches of transformation' in India and Bangladesh – vulnerable coastal areas of Mumbai, the Sundarbans and Kutch, facing multiple uncertainties – where new alliances and practices are reimagining sustainable development and inspiring transformation.
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The System Change Hive explores links between art and research on sustainability, through a series of discussions between STEPS members, invited guests and a selected group of emerging artists, supported by experienced mentors and communications experts.
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PASTRES (Pastoralism, Uncertainty and Resilience: Global Lessons from the Margins) is a research project which aims to learn from the ways that pastoralists respond to uncertainty, applying such ‘lessons from the margins’ to global challenges.
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Resources on uncertainty
Our Uncertainty theme page includes resources, articles and videos from the STEPS Centre to introduce the theme of uncertainty and explore what it means for sustainability and development.
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The ESRC STEPS Centre (Social, Technological and Environmental Pathways to Sustainability) is a research centre hosted by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at the University of Sussex, UK. We are supported by a grant from the UK's Economic and Social Research Council.
The STEPS Centre is part of the Pathways to Sustainability Global Consortium, which includes hubs in Africa, China, Europe, Latin America, North America and South Asia.
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