DSA Members' news

Queen's Anniversary Prize for OPHI
The University of Oxford was among 22 UK educational institutions announced as winners of Queen’s Anniversary Prizes, for research carried out by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at ODID.

New project on violence against women
Nandini Gooptu is a co-investigator on a new £1.76 million GCRF project investigating the multiple determinants of violence against women in Delhi NCR and Johannesburg. Find out more.

TAKE PART! New project to share methodological learning
Young Lives has launched a new project that aims to share learning on the methodological and ethical challenges of carrying out longitudinal research in low and middle-income countries. Find out more and take part.

Protecting borders, not people
Ruben Andersson and David Keen wrote for Foreign Policy on how outsourcing border control to poorer neighbour countries represents a 'spectacular own goal', not just in humanitarian terms, but also politically.

Exploring refugee belonging
Novelist and academic Dame Marina Warner delivered the 2019 Annual Harrell-Bond lecture, which explored the potential of imaginative 'tale-spinning' in establishing a sense of place and belonging for refugees and forced migrants. Listen to the podcast.

Following his recent OBE, Prof David Hulme wrote an open letter in response to rumours about the merging of DFID and the Foreign Office. You can read his letter in full, here.

Laura Hammond wrote about the Global Refugee Forum which was published on the London International Development Centre's Migration Leadership Team blog series.

Adam Hanieh's Money, Markets, and Monarchies: The Gulf Cooperation Council and the Political Economy of the Contemporary Middle East has been awarded the 2019 Middle East Political Economy Book Prize of the Arab Studies Institute's Political Economy Project. The book also won the 2019 British International Studies Association (BISA) International Political Economy Group Book Prize last year.

Marc DuBois published an article on The New Humanitarian. This Aid & Policy opinion piece takes a critical look at the discussion of the 'triple nexus' -- the aim to work towards a nexus of humanitarian, development and peace intervention.

The 2020 Great Development Dialogue
On 24 January, the Department of International Development hosted the annual Great Development Dialogue, with a panel of speakers from more varied perspectives than in the past: Deoborah James and David Graeber (anthropology), Maitreesh Ghatak and Gharad Bryan (economics), and Kathryn Hochstetler (international development). This year’s event began with the political economy of land, and then moved onto broader issues of what economics, anthropology and political science can and cannot teach us about development. Listen to the discussion again here.

Professor Kathryn Hochstetler on Chico Mendes
On 23 January, Professor Kathryn Hochstetler was interviewed by BBC Radio 4 for their programme on the assassination of Chico Mendes as part of their Green Originals series. Listen to the programme here.

An IMF for an unstable monetary system
On 5 December 2019, Professor José Antonio Ocampo, delivered a public lecture at LSE, which looked at the different dimensions of IMF reform: the role of the international monetary system, global macroeconomic cooperation, prevention and management of crises, and the governance of the system. Listen to the talk again here.

The Conflict Research Programme Blog celebrates its 1 year anniversary this month! The platform showcases the ongoing research from across our five focus countries covering a range of different themes, including the political marketplace, civicness and identity politics.

Read some of our latest blogs from our 2018 Conflict Research Fellows:

Recycling as bricolage: Training the Police Nationale Congolaise by Michel Thill

Protest movements in Iraq in the age of a ‘new civil society’ by Zahra Ali

The opportunity for local peacebuilding interventions: The case of Kirkuk, Iraq by Dylan O’Driscoll

Today’s Refugees are Tomorrow’s Activists: Transnational civil society and diaspora activism in Iraqi Kurdistan, Somaliland and South Sudan by Yaniv Voller.

DPU's Kamna Patel and Nick Anim receive awards at UCL's first annual
Inclusion Awards
Congratulations to DPU lecturer Kamna Patel and DPU PhD candidate Nick Anim whose incredible work was recognised at UCL's first annual Inclusion Awards. Of eighty nominations across UCL, Kamna and Nick received two of a total of four awards.

DPU staff co-author new UNDRR implementation guide for land use and urban planning
The guide, co-authored by Cassidy Johnson and Barbara Lipietz, responds to the Sendai Framework concern that more dedicated action needs to be focused on tackling underlying disaster risk drivers in urban areas through strengthening land use and

New collaborative film produced as output of learning exchange between DPU and Lugar Comum
The film, ‘Exploring mobilisation experiences for more equitable city-making’, examines the processes of knowledge production in the exchanges undertaken in Salvador and London.

KNOWs Third Annual Workshop 2020
The KNOW Team met at the Indian Institute of Human Settlements in Bangalore, between 19th-22nd January for their annual workshop

New book 'The Routledge Handbook of Urban Resilience' co-edited by DPU's Adriana Allen out now
The book includes chapters by DPU staff - Cassidy Johnson, Emmanuel Osuteye, Rita Lambert, Julia Wesely and Adriana Allen – as well as from DPU partners Braima Koroma, Mtafu Manda and Shuaib Lwasa.

IDS is looking for a Chair of the Board of Trustees

IDS Director highlights strengths of DFID and warns against merge with the Foreign Office.

CIDT support NDC Partnership processes in 15 countries
From 2018-2020 CIDT has provided varied support services including: facilitation to support in-country engagement; facilitation and training to the Support Unit team in Washington DC and Bonn; facilitation of important regional Member consultations in Bangkok and New York; and creation of a Country Engagement Online Tool.

Research paper dissects the factors impacting efficacy of independent forest monitoring networks in Cameroon
This paper by Aurelian Mbzibain takes Cameroon as a case study of the nature of independent forest monitoring networks, their impact and challenges. The article is published in the journal ‘Forest Policy and Economics’ with the title ‘Complementarity, rivalry and substitution in the governance of forests: Learning from independent forest monitoring system in Cameroon’.

Project partners from five countries convene for annual planning in Gabon
The CV4C planning workshops bought together project partners from across the region over three days to discussed successes, challenges and plans for the final year of the project. Workshops took place around improving the quality of forest monitoring, dissemination of project results and a session with Conservation Justice discussed synergies between forest and wildlife monitoring.

Rays of hope in South Sudan
As South Sudan is poised to enter a new era of social and economic development, Professor Jean Hartley points to a model for the future of its girls’ education, and a potentially huge role for open and distance learning in professional training. Read more…

Taster for new Development Management MSc to launch on Futurelearn
Understanding Global Development Management is a free two-week course launching on the Futurelearn online platform in March. It feeds into The Open University’s new postgraduate Certificate in Global Development Management which is due to start in October. Read more…

First Commonwealth Scholarship graduates celebrate in Kenya
The first group of Open University Commonwealth Scholars to complete their MSc in Environmental Management are already making a difference. Read more…

Are African Governments naive to take on so much Chinese infrastructure debt?
No, says Dr Frangton Chiyemura in a podcast and newspaper article drawing on his recently completed PhD, which examines the drivers of Chinese financing in Africa’s renewable energy sector, and the negotiation processes and the engagement between Chinese and African actors. Read more…

Research highlights the value of international solidarity in highlighting human rights abuses
Senior Lecturer Dr Umut Erel has highlighted the role of research in strengthening international solidarity in a roundtable discussion at Tate Modern, focusing on the art of Kurdish activist Zehra Dogan whose installation What is left behind was part of the Open University’s Who are we? project at Tate Exchange. Read more…

NRI is pleased to welcome more new staff who joined in February
under our Food and Nutrition Security Initiative (FaNSI):

• Kaysara Khatun - Senior Fellow in Climate Change and Rural Institutions

• Fiorella Picchioni - Fellow in Gender and Diversity in Food Systems.

As of January 2020, Dr Jonathan Fisher has taken on the role of Head of Department, succeeding Professor Fiona Nunan who had been Head of Department from 2014.

Congratulations to Professor Nic Cheeseman, Dr Susan Dodsworth and their colleagues for winning the President's Medal of the Market Research Society (MRS), one of the organisation's most prestigious awards.

Contributions sought for Routledge Handbook on Livelihoods in the Global South, edited by Fiona Nunan, Clare Barnes and Sukanya Krishnamurthy. Find out more here.

In May, SIID hosted a number of events on the theme of decolonisation:

SIID PGR Conference & Annual Lecture

Earlier in May we welcomed over 30 students attending the SIID Annual Postgraduate Conference. This event was organised by MA/MSc and PhD students from the University of Sheffield and was attended by postgraduates studying at Universities in Tanzania, China, Norway, Portugal, UK, Sweden, Germany and Hungary. In it’s 10th year, the topic of the conference was ‘Decolonising Development? Challenges, Innovations and Practices.’ This event coincided with the SIID Annual Lecture and we were delighted to welcome Professor Uma Kothari to deliver a lecture on: "Decolonising Knowledge and Forging Solidarity: Disrupting colonial representations, narratives and imaginaries". More details can be found on the SIID website.

Research Ethics: Developing Best Practice for Researching in the Global South

More than 40 researchers at different career stages attended this two day workshop at the University of Sheffield over 20th - 21st May. The workshop consisted of eight facilitated break-out sessions for group work. A range of topics were discussed and part of the workshop was recorded as material will be edited for teaching purposes. If you are interested in hearing more please get in contact with the workshop organizer Dr Daniel Hammett. More details on the SIID website as well.

UEA is leading a Global Research Translation Award (GRTA) project called Meeting the SDGs: creating innovative infrastructures and policy solutions to support sustainable development in Global South communities. The GRTA is funded through the Global Challenges Research Fund’s (GCRF) Innovation and Commercialisation Programme, developed to fast-track promising research findings into real-world solutions.

The £1.36 million project comprises four interconnected sub-projects:

· Child malnutrition: working with partners in Brazil, Jordan, Malaysia and Thailand to develop bespoke micronutrient supplements for children with local industries in each of the countries, and using creative writing and film-making to engage families on the importance of a balanced diet for child growth and development.

· Sustainable Food Systems: addressing food and nutrition insecurity in India, working with communities, especially women's groups, youth groups and students to generate and share knowledge on food production choices and technologies, diets and consumption practices, using digital technology and participatory methods.

· Family Literacy: working with partners in Ethiopia, Nepal, Malawi and the Philippines to develop a more sustainable, relevant and 'bottom-up' approach to family literacy by embedding literacy in people's everyday activities and using indigenous learning practices that can influence family well-being and livelihoods.

· Microplastics: working with partners in Malaysia to build a network of academics, industry partners and policy-makers to identify and quantify the distribution of microplastics and assess the potential environmental risks, by scaling up a simple monitoring methodology with a multilingual video manual to aid its use and ensure consistency of practice for data comparisons.
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