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2023 marks a pivotal year as we approach the mid-point in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  

With their seventh small grants funding round, the Sussex Sustainability Research Programme (SSRP) continue to support collaborations across the University of Sussex and the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) that help to deliver science towards the SDGs. As in previous years, project proposals were required to demonstrate that multiple SDGs will be addressed and advanced by an interdisciplinary project team involving two or more Schools. This particular SSRP funding round aims to strengthen relationships with international partners in low- and middle-income countries alongside connections with local agents in Sussex and the South Downs to ‘advance sustainability research with impact’.

A new set of interdisciplinary research projects have now been selected by a cross-School review panel chaired by Professor Joseph Alcamo, SSRP Director and Professor of Environmental Systems Science in the School of Global Studies. Prof Alcamo said: “These new projects show both the very wide range of topics that sustainability science covers, as well as the importance of the questions that this new science tries to come to grips with.”

Sussex researchers from across SSRP’s main partner schools and beyond enter this year with a modest pot of funding to build on previous research, scale up existing impactful work and pilot new project areas. The awarded projects will help to tackle global and local sustainability challenges – from integrating public health and conservation initiatives; creating sustainable land use systems in the South Downs; protecting the Rights of Nature; and exploring the relationships between biodiversity trends, subsistence poaching and socio-economic factors to pushing the boundaries in the area of menstrual health through inclusive environmenstrual action.

For full list of the successful projects led by cross-School research teams, take a look at the below titles:

• “Co-created citizen science to advance sustainable menstrual health among adolescents“ – Dr Chi Eziefula (Brighton & Sussex Medical School), Dr Anne Gatuguta (Brighton & Sussex Medical School)
• “Making the case for the ‘Rights of Nature’ in Minas Gerais, Brazil“ – Prof Mika Peck (School of Life Sciences), Dr Jo Smallwood (School of Law, Politics and Sociology)
• “South Coast Sustainability: Capacity building to create sustainable land use systems” – Dr Chris Sandom (School of Life Sciences), Dr Shova Thapa Karki (University of Sussex Business School), Dr John Thompson (Institute of Development Studies), Dr Bonnie Holligan (School of Law, Politics and Sociology), Dr Pedram Rowhani (School of Global Studies)
• “Supporting integration of conservation and public health in the upland forests of Bougainville and the lowlands forests of Sepu, Papua New Guinea” – Prof Alan Stewart (School of Life Sciences), Jo Middleton (Brighton & Sussex Medical School), Richard Hazell (School of Life Sciences), Dr Andrea Brock (School of Global Studies)
• “Subsistence poaching in Wildlife Protected Areas: the scope and limitations of transactional controls in Zambia” – Prof Fiona Mathews (School of Life Sciences), Prof Elizabeth ‘Buzz’ Harrison (School of Global Studies), Prof Tony Carr (School of Life Sciences)

With nearly all of their projects involving new or ongoing partnerships and external collaborations, SSRP is committed to building and nurturing a strong (international) research network which supports and enables our community in carrying out excellent research with impact. 

As participation in conservation efforts goes hand-in-hand with community and social empowerment, Prof Fiona Mathews will be running a half-marathon on 2 April 2023 to support the Kasanka Trust, Zambia, who are also partners in her new SSRP-funded project. The money raised will contribute to the sponsorship of a young Zambian to become trained in bat conservation. Please consider donating to the fundraising page, if you can.

Fiona Mathews, Professor of Environmental Biology at the School of Life Sciences, explains her last minute decision to sign up to the race and fundraise for this important cause: “The Kasanka site is critically important for the conservation of a range of species, including 10 million fruit-bats that migrate there every year. The park is under constant threat from a range of sources, such as poaching, fire-setting and illegal land grabs. The fundraising will support a Zambian biology graduate, who has already undergone basic training through an internship, to be employed and trained by the conservation team. The Park and its Wildlife need the skills and enthusiasm of people like Alison. The information they collect will also be vital in fighting the ongoing legal battles to enforce the protection of the Park.Your gift, however small, will go a long way!“

Further information about the above mentioned projects funded by the Sussex Sustainability Research Programme (SSRP) will soon be uploaded on the SSRP website. In the meantime, please visit the SSRP’s research page and explore projects supported to date. 

Missed out on SSRPs funding round #7 but looking for (extra) funding to increase sustainability research with impact? You can consider applying to the SSRP Impact Fund or Visiting Fellowship Fund. Read more here.

Make sure to subscribe to SSRP’s mailing list to receive regular roundups of internal and external funding opportunities, a monthly Bulletin and upcoming sustainability-related news and events.

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