Encomienda, the colonial state, and long-run development in Colombia. The Spanish encomienda, a colonial forced-labour institution that lasted three centuries, killed many indigenous people and caused others to flee into nomadism. What were its long-term effects? This paper digitizes historical data from the mid-1500s onwards and reconstruct the Spanish conquerors’ route through Colombia. By Faguet, Jean-Paul, Matajira, Camilo and Sánchez, Fabio (2024)

Contrasting academic approaches to COVID-19 vaccine production and distribution: What can the Oxford and Texas experiences teach us about pandemic response? Professor Ken Shadlen’s latest co-authored paper compars the trajectories of two COVID vaccines that emerged from university labs, emphasizing the importance of technology transfer and, critically, of resources being dedicated to tech transfer. By Jorge L Contreras, Kenneth C Shadlen.

New research report by Dr Myfanwy James

In 2021, Dr Myfanwy James was one of four independent researchers invited by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) to examine inequality in the organisation. With Dr Lioba Hirsch, Dr Eleanor Davey and Dr Molly Naisanga, they conducted 150 interviews with humanitarian workers in DRC, South Sudan, and Syria, focus group discussions, and extensive examination of internal documents. This has been published as an extensive interactive research report, which traces how humanitarian practice is shaped by, and reproduces, structures of social inequality in particular settings. It also examines the range of recent reform efforts since 2020, their effects in practice, and the sorts of debates these have engendered. It offers a portrait of the organisation, providing an analytical resource for those seeking to bring about change in humanitarianism, and showing why they continue to try. The aim is to influence ongoing debates in the sector about inequality, and the contested possibilities for reform.

Professor David Keen on Wreckonomics and Shame at the Oxford literary festival  

On Tuesday 19 March Professor David Keen delivered two talks at the Oxford literary festival on his recent publications ‘Wreckonomics’ and ‘Shame’. Find out more about the festival here.

Dr Joe Strong on Sexual and Reproductive Health and masculinities

Dr Joe Strong received International Science Partnerships Fund funding for the project: Masculinities Project: maximising the transformative potential of Community and national research and impact activities in which he will run community-based workshops and stakeholder workshops with Sexual and Reproductive Health experts in Accra to discuss the findings of his research and set a forward-thinking agenda around Sexual and Reproductive Health and masculinities.

Book Symposium: Tasha Fairfield and Andrew Charman ‘Social Inquiry and Bayesian Inference’

You can find the symposium on Dr Tasha Fairfield’s book, Social Inquiry and Bayesian Inference (CUP 2022) here.