The Sussex Sustainability Research Programme (SSRP) is delighted to announce four seed grants enabling SSRP Fellows to scale up their sustainability research.

Round 9 grants have been awarded to SSRP researchers working on projects concerning rights of nature law, innovative sustainability education for young people, combining public health and biodiversity in Oceania, and trade and deforestation regulations.

The funds will be used by recipients to develop bids for bigger platform grants to expand their research – thus furthering the University’s ambitions for excellent sustainability research.

As with previous funding rounds, all of the Round 9 funded projects fall under at least one of the core SSRP themes: Ecosystems, rights and justice; Planetary health; South Coast sustainability; Sustainable climate and food systems; and Sustainability frontiers. 

Congratulations to the recipients of Round 9 funding:

Professor Mika Peck (School of Life Sciences) and several colleagues in the Schools of Law, Politics and Sociology and Education and Social Work, as well as partners in Ecuador, who are scaling up their ‘Ecoforensic CIC’ organisation to strengthen the capability of indigenous and local communities to build rights of nature cases and protect ecosystems.

Dr Perpetua Kirby (School of Education and Social Work) and colleagues in the Schools of Media, Arts and Humanities, Education and Social Work, and Engineering and Informatics, who are developing their existing work exploring the role of creative writing, speculative fiction, game playing and other creative pedogeological approaches to educate and engage young people in sustainability issues.

Professor Alan Stewart (School of Life Sciences) and colleagues from the Schools of Life Sciences, Media, Arts and Humanities, and the Brighton and Sussex Medical School, who are building on research in Papa New Guinea to generate policies promoting action for the UN Sustainable Development Goals on public health, biodiversity and climate across Oceania.

Dr Anthony Alexander (Business School) and colleagues from the School of Law, Politics and Sociology, who will create a multi-institution disciplinary research network – including academics across law and business studies departments – to assess effective ways of incorporating sustainability into deforestation and trade legislation.

Professor Joseph Alcamo, Director of the Sussex Sustainability Research Programme, said:  “Over the past few years the University has invested steadily in these innovative and promising research ideas for sustainability; now these projects are ready for scaling up and realising their huge potential for impact in the UK and abroad.” 

The research of Round 9 recipients will be showcased in more depth in our spotlight blog series throughout September 2024.

You can also find out more about the research at the SSRP symposium on 13 November 2024, details of which will be announced very soon.