Our Aims and Objectives

We are the UK association for all those who research, study and teach global development issues

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What is Development Studies

What is development studies and decolonising development.

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Our Members

We have around 1,000 members, made up of individuals and around 40 institutions

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Governance

Find out about our constitution, how we are run and meet our Council

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People

Meet our Council members and other staff who support the running of DSA

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About

The DSA Conference is an annual event which brings together the development studies community

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DSA2024

Our conference this year is themed "Social justice and development in a polarising world"

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Past Conferences

Find out about our previous conferences

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Study Groups

Our Study Groups offer a chance to connect with others who share your areas of interest

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Students and ECRs

Students and early career researchers are an important part of our community

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Publications

Our book series with OUP and our relationship with other publishers

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North-South Research

A series of workshops exploring North-South interdisciplinary research with key messages and reports

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Membership Directory

Find out who our members are, where they are based and the issues they work on

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Business and development

The Business and Development (formerly the CSR) study group welcomes all those with research, practitioner or policy interests that explore, illustrate or critique the impact of business and corporations on development, and/or the ways that development issues can impact back into corporations.

We provide a forum for exploring a wide variety of issues ranging from corporate social responsibility to a broader understanding of the relationship between business and society. We aim to provoke open and stimulating debate in a spirit of mutual respect for differences of opinion. We therefore welcome all perspectives and encourage membership from outside academia and from across the world. The group’s activities include hosting an annual workshop and convening a panel at the annual DSA conference.

We are a dynamic group and in 2019 we expanded the oversight of the group to include both convenors and committee members. This has allowed us to include all those interested in being more actively involved in leading the group and whilst also allowing for responsibilities to be divided between the team.

Connect with the study group on LinkedIn

This LinkedIn Group forms part of the Business and Development Study Group of the Development Studies Association with the aim of supporting those with research, policy and practitioner interest in the role and impact of business and corporations in the aid and development landscape.  You do not need to be a member of the DSA to be involved in this LinkedIn Group. Please join, look out for posts and share your own updates, ideas for Study Group activities over the coming academic year and thoughts on this LinkedIn Group moving forward.

Convenors

Dr Helen Hawthorne, Lecturer in Politics, Department of Law and Politics, Middlesex University

[email protected]

David Bek, Associate Professor Research, Research Centre for Business in Society, Coventry University

[email protected]

Can you help?

The convenors of the Business and Development Study Group are very busy and would love to have your help to run the group. If you’re interested and want to know more, and you’re a DSA member, please email DSA Membership and we can put you in touch with the group.

Mailing list

If you wish to join the business and development mailing list, please visit this link.

Forthcoming meetings

None at present

Previous meetings

DSA2021 Conference PanelCovid-19 has thrown business into the global spotlight in controversial ways, providing lucrative opportunities for many TNCs in the global North and raising questions about equitable access to measures to stem the pandemic in the global South. To explore these issues, the Business and Development Study group will host Panel P41 in the DSA 2021 Conference – ‘Covid-19, Business and International Development: What is the role of business in responding to the pandemic in the global South?’

DSA2020 Conference Panel
Business and Development Panel at the DSA Conference – (P01) Private Sector Leaders, Processes and Linkages in the Global South: Changing structures and the pursuit of the SDGs.

Spring Workshops 2020

New avenues for research on business and development 

Margaret Anstee Centre, Newnham College, University of Cambridge, 12th March 2020, 10am– 4pm. Workshop discussions were led by:

  • Peter Lund-Thomsen (Copenhagen Business School): Business and Development: Issues and Perspectives
  • Michael Wendelboe Hansen (Copenhagen Business School): International Business and Economic Development
  • Jodie Thorpe (Institute of Development Studies): State-Business Relations and Development (tbc)
  • Emma Mawdsley (University of Cambridge): Financialisation and Development; South-South Development Cooperation

Workshop chair: Jessica Sklair (University of Cambridge)

 

Global value chains, business and development 

ISEG – Lisbon School of Economics & Management, University of Lisbon, 7th February 2020. Workshop discussions were led by:

  • Roberta Rabellotti (University of Pavia): GVCs and innovation systems
  • Farwa Sial (University of Manchester): The intersection of business, GVCs, innovation and informality through CSR

Workshop chair: Luís Mah (ISEG-Universidade de Lisboa)

Winter 2018 Workshop 

12th December, University of Bath Pall Mall, London

Partnerships in Practice: Issues of inequality and power – has anything changed?

This workshop explored the experience of partnership between the private sector and development actors and if / how SDG17 might best be realised in practice. How might private sector involvement enable or further undermine efforts to achieve meaningful partnership between development actors at different levels? Do new possibilities emerge for partnerships in practice?