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.

The Politics of Social Protection in Eastern and Southern Africa, edited by Sam Hickey, Tom Lavers, Miguel Nino-Zarazua and Jeremy Seekings, has been published. It is an Open Access book published by OUP, as part of the Effective States and Inclusive Development (ESID) Research Centre.

Christopher Foster and Shamel Azmeh explore the barriers developing economies are facing in light of the increasing importance of digital technologies, most of which are concentrated in advanced economies. The Open Access paper appeared in The Journal of Development Studies.

Pritish Behuria looks at the relationship in developing countries between renewable solar energy projects and domestic manufacturing within the same sector. The politics of late late development in renewable energy sectors: Dependency and contradictory tensions in India’s National Solar Mission, is in World Development and is Open Access.

Professor Diana Mitlin is leading on new research, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, which explores the importance of participatory development. You can read the working paper and see a short video of it in action here.

Newsletter
The GCRF funded FutureDAMS consortium led by The University of Manchester has just realised its latest newsletter. To read the latest news and sign up for future editions visit here.

The Migration Leadership Team won an AHRC Research in Film Award in the Social Media category for our stop-motion animation film 'Life on the Move' created with Positive Negatives and filmmaker Osbert Parker. The film (and a companion film which shows the process by which the film was created, using 3d-scans of real actors) is available here.

Exclusive live-stream event with Mark Lowcock
The Department of International Development will be hosting an exclusive live-stream event with the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator and the Head of UNOCHA, Mark Lowcock, who will discuss progress towards the United Nations’ vision for better humanitarian financing, discuss lessons learned, and identify how we can make further progress towards a more anticipatory approach. You can tune in on Monday 2 December, from 12.30pm via the LSE ID Facebook page.

Update from our Head of Department, Professor Ken Shadlen
Professor Shadlen presented the keynote lecture at a seminar in Buenos Aires on Argentina's possible accession to the Patent Cooperation Treaty. The event took place in the Bolsa de Comercio de Buenos Aires (the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange) on Wednesday 28 August. Professor Shadlen also presented a paper "TRIPS, Patents, and Drugs in India," co-authored with Margaret Kyle (ParisMines) and Bhaven Sampat (Columbia) at the annual meeting of EPIP (European Policy for Intellectual Property), 11-13 September, in Zurich.

Dr Kar and Dr Sequeria on this year’s Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
Dr Sohini Kar and Dr Sandra Sequeria we interviewed by sciencemag.com for their opinions about this year’s Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Whilst Dr Sequeria congratulates the winners, Dr Kar encourages caution when using randomized controlled trials in the fight against poverty. You can read the full article here.

One Year Anniversary for the CRP Blog
The CRP Blog turned one on Thursday 3 October. Over the past year, the blog has published insightful and thought provoking articles on Syria, Iraq, DRC and Somalia, covering an array of topics. You can check out the CRP blog 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.

'Thinking Cities: Debating just development in the Global South' - new DPU podcast series launched
The DPU have launched a new podcast series titled 'Thinking Cities: Debating just development in the Global South', with each episode relating to a different thematic area of the DPU's work

DPU's Prof Adriana Allen nominated for the HIC coalition presidential election
We are very proud that Prof Adriana Allen has been nominated by members of Habitat International Coalition (HIC) for the coalition presidential election. Adriana's well-deserved candidature has full support and endorsement from the DPU.

DPU announce sixth wave of the DPU/ACHR/CAN Fellowship open for applications
Four candidates will be selected to work with partner organisations for 6 months, starting from beginning of January 2020.

DPU staff attend Asia Pacific Urban Forum 7 in which grassroots leaders call for inclusive planning
From 15-17 October 2019 in Penang, Malaysia, delegates across civil society, government, business, and academia gathered for the 7th Asia Pacific Urban Forum (APUF), with DPU / KNOW researchers Barbara Lipietz and Stephanie Butcher in attendance.

DPU PhD student defends thesis on potential of mobile money for rural poverty reduction in Nigeria
Congratulations to DPU PhD student, Maryam Lawal, who has successfully defended her thesis titled 'A Capabilitarian Account of the Potential of Mobile Money for Rural Poverty Reduction in Bauchi, Northern Nigeria'

DPU alumni speak at the Strelka ‘Future Architect conference’ in Moscow, Russia
Fantastic work by DPU alumni Joana Dabaj and Riccardo Luca Conti, co-founders of CatalyticAction charity, who have received the Bronze LafargeHolcim award for sustainable construction for their project “Pavilion re-claimed for refugee education”.

Vice President of The Gambia Isatou Touray to deliver the IDS Annual Lecture.

New online course to strengthen capacity of Transparency International project managers worldwide
Our e-learning team has begun the creation of an online course to strengthen the confidence and capability of Transparency International Chapters and Secretariat to undertake effective Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning of projects and programmes for anticorruption. The course will be launched in early 2020 in English, French and Spanish.

CIDT supports Royal National Lifeboat Institution to improve their management of international projects
CIDT are supporting the RNLI International team to strengthen their capacity for project cycle management for international development by providing a bespoke toolkit and staff training.

CIDT support Project Design planning to save lives from drowning in Bangladesh
In November 2019, CIDT’s Rufsana Begum facilitated a two-day project design workshop for the Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The aim of the workshop was to facilitate the project design of Project Bhasa Phase 2, ensuring a high-level analysis is integrated into the logframe and to strengthen the skills and knowledge on project cycle management tools.

Open University creates course to help aid workers fight abuse
The free Safeguarding Essentials course has signed up thousands of students since its launch on the Humanitarian Leadership Academy’s global learning platform. Read more…

International development prominent in ‘outstanding’ research achievements recognised by OU
Jude Fransman, Alessandra Marino and Koula Charitonos are winners in the OU Research Excellence Awards 2019. Read more…

Building a BRI network at the OU
Lorena Lombardozzi outlines an Open University workshop exploring a range of issues relating to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and invites colleagues to join a new network connecting experts in the different regions and across topics relating to the BRI. Read more…

All the world’s a stage when international development meets Shakespeare
Development Policy and Practice (DPP) has contributed to a project led by Shakespeare’s Globe to provide teacher development in China. Read more…

‘Our call is for more creative and visual ways of sharing data, rather than dense text’
Jo Vincett has developed an illustrated resource known as ‘refugee comics’ to build public awareness about the mental health damage to people detained with no time limit in UK immigration removal centres. Read more…

Open University partners Ministry of Education in Ghana to promote the effective teaching of practical science
The OpenSTEM Africa: Ghana programme will bring experiential learning to 148 of Ghana’s lowest performing Senior High School. Read more…

NRI and IFPRI are developing and promoting a Risk-Contingent Credit product for smallholder farmers at risk of drought in Kenya, bundling weather index insurance and agricultural credit together based on long time-series rainfall data. See here.

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.