Institute of Development Studies
The Institute of Development Studies is an institution for development research, teaching and learning, and impact and communications, based at the University of Sussex. It is ranked first in the world for development studies in the 2020 edition of the QS World University Rankings and is consistently ranked among the world's top development research centres.
History and leadership
IDS was founded in 1966 by economist Dudley Seers who was director from 1967 until 1972. From 1972 to 1981 Sir Richard Jolly was the director of IDS, and later authored A short history of IDS: a personal reflection. John Toye was director of IDS from 1987–97.The current director of IDS is Melissa Leach, a social anthropologist and professorial fellow at IDS, who succeeded Lawrence Haddad in 2014. Prior to her appointment she was director of the STEPS Centre. Leach's recent work has explored the politics of science and knowledge in policy processes linked to environment and health; cultural and political dimensions of vaccine delivery; medical research trials, emerging infectious diseases, and ecology-health linkages.
Structure and research
IDS consists of ten research clusters or teams which concentrate their research on specific angles of development:- The Business, Markets and the State cluster examines how and under what conditions businesses and market systems enable or constrain pathways for positive development. Current research includes a Rising Powers programme focusing on the economic growth of the BRICS.
- The Cities cluster has a focus on the circumstances of poor and vulnerable people within cities and explores ways in which different forms of inequalities interact to produce both good and bad outcomes.
- The Digital and Technology cluster challenges prevailing technocratic views by highlighting inequalities that Information and Communication Technologies may cause.
- The Governance cluster work on addressing the tensions between political liberalisation and globalisation, tensions between the politics of growth and the politics of equity the potential tensions and synergies between development concerns such as the anti-poverty agenda, and the gender-equity agenda and the environmental protection agenda.
- The Health and Nutrition cluster researches the political economy of health and nutrition, markets, regulation, diseases connected to malnutrition and how health systems respond to infectious diseases.
- The Knowledge, Impact and Policy team work on methodology rather than a defined issue, supporting programmes with monitoring frameworks, knowledge management and research communications.
- The Participation, Inclusion and Social Change cluster focuses on designing participatory research methods in international development and the social exclusion facing groups such as women and people with disabilities.
- The Power and Popular Politics team investigate political participation and contestation outside of institutions.
- The Resource Politics and Environmental Change cluster works on the consequences of climate change on politics, the economy and society are shaped by developmental issues.
Funding
- the UK Department for International Development
- The Economic and Social Research Council
- The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
- The European Union
- The Rockefeller Foundation.
Teaching and post-graduate courses
IDS has engaged in teaching since 1973 when the first MPhil course in development began. Currently it teaches at postgraduate and doctorate level and has been awarded accreditation for its teaching programme by the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes. In 2012 IDS was rated the UK's best university-affiliated think tank in the Global Go To Think Tank Report 2012 and the third-best globally.There are eight MA courses run by IDS:
- MA Development Studies
- MA Gender and Development
- MA Globalisation, Business and Development
- MA Governance, Development and Public Policy
- MA Participation, Power and Social Change
- MA Poverty and Development
- MSc Climate Change, Development and Policy
- MA Food and Development
Notable alumni
- Carlos Alvarado Quesada, 48th President of Costa Rica - MA Development Studies 2009
- Joanna Kerr, Chief Executive of Greenpeace Canada - MA Gender and Development 1991
- Edwin Irizarry Mora, Puerto Rican pro-independence leader - PhD/DPhil Development Studies 1989
- Salim Mvurya, Kenyan politician - Power Participation and Social Change 2011
- Nancy Okail, Egyptian scholar and activist - Doctor of Philosophy 2009
- Naana Otoo-Oyortey, social activist and women's rights defender - Mphil Development 1993
- Melanie Robinson, Her Majesty's Ambassador to the Republic of Zimbabwe - MA Governance and Development 2012
- Isatou Touray, Vice President of The Gambia - PhD/DPhil Development Studies 2004
- Euclid Tsakalotos, Greek Minister of Finance - Mphil Development 1984
- Marta Zabaleta, Argentinian political refugee - PhD/DPhil Development Studies 1979
- Robina P. Marks, South African High Commissioner to Sri Lanka - MA Gender and Development 1999
Notable academics
Current academics
Sir Richard Jolly, a development economist who has held various positions within the UNDP and OECD, and was awarded honorary fellowship from The International Institute of Social Studies in 2007.Robert Chambers, who has contribution to development for his work in participatory rural appraisal, is widely acknowledged.
Ian Scoones is director of the STEPS Centre and is well known for his research into land reform in Zimbabwe.
Stephen Devereux is the author of Theories of Famine.
Mick Moore, head of the International Centre for Tax and Development
Ben Ramalingam, author of Aid on the Edge of Chaos
Carlos Fortin, political scientist, Assistant Secretary-General, United Nations, 1990–2005, currently Emeritus Fellow and Research Associate
Past academics
- – worked for 13 years as a fellow at IDS for 13 years before joining Prosperity Initiatives in 2008.
- Chris Colclough – a fellow, and professorial fellow
- Stephany Griffith-Jones – has contributed to research and policy suggestions on how to make the domestic and international financial system more stable so it can better serve the needs of inclusive economic development and the real economy.
- Susan Joekes is noted for her part in the Women in Development approach.
- Naila Kabeer is a professor of gender and development at the Gender Institute, London School of Economics.
- Simon Maxwell worked at IDS for 16 years and is now senior research associate at the Overseas Development Institute.
- Peter Newell is a professor at the University of Sussex, specialising in climate change. He is co-editor of the European Journal of International Relations, associate editor of the journal Global Environmental Politics and sits on the editorial board of Global Environmental Change, the Journal of Environment and Development and the Journal of Peasant Studies.
- – Previously a research fellow in IDS Globalisation team. An economist specialising in the analysis of poverty in developing countries and the linkages between poverty and both global and local economic reform. Has led research on the possibilities of the Tobin tax for development.
- Mark Robinson – now the chief professional officer for governance, social development, conflict and humanitarian aid in the UK Department for International Development.
- Hans Singer – known for Prebisch-Singer thesis, Bretton Woods
- Chris Stevens is senior research associate at ODI concentrating on the impacts of Northern policies on the South.
- Robert Wade is professor of political economy at London School of Economics. Economist for the World Bank during the 1980s.
- Ronald Dore- Leading Japanologist and Sociologist