Welcome to Development Studies Association
The Development Studies Association is the UK's learned society and professional body for academic teaching and research, policy and practice in the field of international development.
While the annual conference is a principle focus for the association, the DSA is active throughout the year through it's many Study Groups. All those involved in development either as teachers, researchers, consultants or practitioners, are welcome to join both the Study Groups and the DSA itself.
DSA news
Call for Nominations for the 2017 DSA/ICEA Prize
For the 2017 prize, all Development Studies and Economics departments in the UK are invited to submit one dissertation each for consideration. This year nominations will be accepted between 1 November and 28 February. The award will be given during the Opening Plenary of the 2017 Development Studies Association conference, to be held at the University of Bradford.
For more information about criteria and who to send nominations to, click here.
The 2016 DSA/ICEA Dissertation Prize
The 2016 DSA/ICEA dissertation prize has been awarded to Robert Mwanamanga from Bradford University, for his work “Does foreign aid promote growth? Evidence from Malawi”. The prize includes £1000 and an invitation to present the findings of the dissertation at the DSA’s annual conference. Robert’s dissertation reviews the extensive literature on the relation between aid and economic growth and tests different statistical models against data from Malawi. The judges noted:
The prize winning paper tackles perhaps the central question of development aid: the extent to which aid contributes to economic growth. It starts with an extremely capable literature review, covering aid-growth theories from the 1940s onwards presented in a neat structure of 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation theories. This is paralleled by a review of empirical studies over the same period. The major criticisms of aid are also reviewed.
After reviewing the broader economic background in Malawi, the paper presents a set of statistical analyses testing different aid-growth models reflecting different theories on the mechanisms which link aid and economic growth. The study concludes that increased aid to Malawi shows diminishing, even negative returns, but recognises that this at least partly reflects the fact that Malawi is one of the most aid dependent countries in the world.
The judges also highly commended Takeshi Miwa (University of Sheffield) for his work, “Drug prescription practices in the private health sector: a case study of Lugala Lutheran Hospital in rural Tanzania”. The judges said:
[The dissertation] reviews literature discussing how an average of 2.4 drugs are prescribed, where the WHO recommended range is below 2. Various causes are suggested, most prominent the grade and experience of the prescriber. The paper tests these hypotheses against data from the records of a private hospital in southern Tanzania. The results suggested that prescribing at the hospital was ‘somewhat suboptimal’ and that staff experience was a factor.
The prize is offered each year by the Development Studies Association and International Consulting Economists’ Association (ICEA). To learn more, click here.
DSA AGM minutes posted
The association's AGM took place at DSA2016 and the minutes can be found, along with theagenda, previous minutes, and related files, etc., on the AGM page.
DSA-OUP book series first title now available
DSA2017 in Bradford
Next year's conference will take place in the north of England from 6-8 September 2017. Information will be posted here shortly.
Study group news
Links to future SG events can be seen in the side bar on the right (or beneath on narrower screens). Other news follows.
DSA Wellbeing, Psychology and Therapeutic Culture in International Development Study group refocussed
Following an engaging panel at the recent annual conference this study group has broadened and re-structured. Read more.
DSA Scotland conference
DSA Scotland's 2016 conference was held in June at the University of Edinburgh. A brief report of the event can be found on the study group webpage.
DSA Media and Development Study group
New convenor(s) required for the DSA Media and Development Study group
After 3 years as the co-chairs of the DSA Media and Development Study group, Dr Martin Scott (University of East Anglia) and Prof. Helen Yanacopulos (Open University) have decided to step down.
Since 2013 they have organised six different book launches and ensured that media was well represented at the DSA annual conference each year with 2-3 dedicated panels.
Anyone interested in taking over the role can find out more information here and is welcome to contact either Martin or Helen to discuss the role.
New book from the NGOs in Development SG
Negotiating Knowledge: evidence and experience in development NGOs, edited by Study Group members Rachel Hayman, Sophie King, Tiina Kontinen and Lata Narayanaswamy will shortly be published by Practical Action Publishing. The book has contributions from Kate Gooding, Kai Matturi, Erla Thrandardottir and Swetha Rao Dhananka. Read more.
DSA Urbanisation and Development SG briefing paper regarding the new Urban Agenda
Following on from a one-day workshop the Study group has produced a briefing paper on the draft of the new Urban Agenda. Read more.
Member news
GDI - University of Manchester
Prof David Hulme wrote in the Guardian about the challenges of reducing income inequality: How has billionaire Donald Trump become the voice of those left behind?
The GDI Lecture series is being livestreamed: click here for details on the schedule and how to watch!
- The first lecture in the GDI Lecture Series was delivered by Prof David Hulme, who asked: “should rich nations help the poor?” Watch it again here.
GDI’s academics attended and wrote about UN’s Habitat III conference:
- Diana Mitlin discussed how Habitat III could address global inequalities
- Joanne Jordan asked what Habitat III might do for people affected by climate change
- Tanja Müller reflected on welcoming refugees in a Berlin neighbourhood
- Armando Barrientos talked about childhood urban inequalities
- Luis Eduardo Perez Murcia wrote about the New Urban Agenda and one asylum seeker’s experience
An Open Access Special Issue of The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance on research by the International research Initiative on Brazil and Africa (IRIBA) has been dedicated to Professor Werner Baer.
The latest GDI Working Paper is by Professor Stephanie Barrientos and Adwoa Owusuaa Bobie on Promoting Gender Equality in the Cocoa-Chocolate Value Chain: Opportunities and Challenges in Ghana. This research guided Mondelez International in their new strategy for promoting women’s empowerment in cocoa supply chains.
Oxford Department of International Development
New Professor of Development Economics
ODID was delighted to welcome Professor Christopher Woodruff as our new statutory Professor of Development Economics.
Professor Woodruff’s research focuses on enterprises in low-income countries, with noted work on returns to capital investments in microenterprises and the effect of formal registration on enterprise performance. He is a pioneer in the use of field experiments in firms.
He currently holds an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council for work measuring productivity in the readymade garment sector, with a particular focus on the challenges women face in moving into supervisory positions in the Bangladeshi garment sector.
Professor Woodruff joins us from the University of Warwick, where he was Professor of Economics.
World Bank new poverty measure
The World Bank has announced it will broaden the way in which it measures poverty by introducing for the first time a new ‘multidimensional’ measure that captures non-monetary aspects of poverty, using a methodology developed by Sabina Alkire and James Foster of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at ODID.
The introduction of the new metric, to be used in conjunction with the Bank’s $1.90 measure of extreme poverty, was one of the recommendations made by a commission led by Oxford economist Sir Tony Atkinson and contained in the Monitoring Global Poverty report, released by the World Bank on 18 October.
OPHI has pioneered an approach to poverty measurement that goes beyond income by incorporating non-monetary deprivations, for example poor sanitation, malnutrition or lack of education. Individuals are defined as ‘multidimensionally’ poor if they experience a given number of such deprivations at the same time.
The bank said it would start tracking non-monetary deprivations in three domains: educational outcomes; access to health care; and access to basic services, such as water, sanitation and electricity. Find out more.
New Director of the International Migration Institute at ODID
Mathias Czaika, Associate Professor of Migration and Development, took up his new position as Director of the International Migration Institute at ODID on 1 October, taking on the role from Oliver Bakewell, who has led IMI since 2011, first as co-Director with Hein de Haas, and then as Director from 2015.
Migrants in Countries in Crisis Project update
The Migrants in Countries in Crisis project, implemented by ICMPD in conjunction with the International Migration Institute, has published a research brief on the Long-term socioeconomic implications of 'crisis-induced' return migration on countries of origin, authored by IMI’s Robtel Neajai Pailey. The research brief evaluates the potential long-term socio-economic implications of return migration on countries of origin in the ‘post-crisis’ phase because both the circumstances and consequences of return during ‘ordinary times’ are likely to be different from crisis-induced return.
Young Lives has produced a number of working papers and policy briefs on child marriage recently:
The Interplay Between Community, Household and Child Level Influences on Trajectories to Early Marriage in Ethiopia
by Alula Pankhurst, Agazi Tiumelissan, and Nardos Chuta. Young Lives Working Paper 162, October 2016
Child Marriage and Early Child-bearing in India: Risk Factors and Policy Implications
by Jennifer Roest. Young Lives Policy Paper 10
Understanding teenage fertility, cohabitation, and marriage: the case of Peru
by Marta Favara and Alan Sanchez. GRADE research progress paper 22.
The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, DPU, UCL, London
Vanesa Castán Broto awarded the Philip Leverhulme Prize
We are delighted that Vanesa Castán Broto, Senior Lecturer at the DPU, has been Awarded the Philip Leverhulme Prize for her research contributions to Geography.
The Philip Leverhulme Prizes recognise the achievement of outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future career is exceptionally promising. More information is available here.
Faculty Materialisation Grant 2016 awarded to ‘Refugee Cities: the Actual Spaces of Migration’
The DPU led interdisciplinary 'Refugee Cities' research project has received the Faculty Materialisation Grant 2016.This project is conceived as a speculative and anticipatory investigation around the actual cost and impact of the migratory wave in Europe. The initial, specific focus, is on Lampedusa and Calais, observing them as continental immigration entry and exit nodes.
Dr Andrea Rigon and Dr Alexandre Apsan Frediani coordinated and supported a delegation from Freetown (Sierra Leone) at the UN Habitat III conference. The delegation included Sam Gibson, Mayor of Freetown, Sulaiman Parker, the Environment and Social Officer of Freetown City Council and the two co-directors of the Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre (SLURC), Dr Joseph Macarthy and Braima Koroma. SLURC is a research centre created through a partnership between the Bartlett Development Planning Unit and Njala University with the aim of generating knowledge that could bring together city actors to achieve just urban development.
DPU participation at Habitat III - First 3 days review
11 academics and staff members from the Development Planning Unit are currently in Quito, Ecuador for the United Nations third conference on Human Settlements – Habitat III. Over 40,000 people are attending the conference, where national stakeholders will decide on the New Urban Agenda, intended to guide national governments in urban development policies over the next 20 years. Outside of these official negotiations, hundreds of side events and other gatherings with government officials, NGOs, private companies and civil society members are taking place, advancing dialogue on a wide range of urban issues.
Reducing Relocation Risk in Urban Areas Research Shared at Habitat III
The DPU ongoing collaborative research project ‘Reducing Relocation Risk in Urban Areas’ presented their research findings presented at Habitat III following a two-day workshop in Quito, Ecuador.
Wrap-up of DPU activities at Habitat III
The United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) concluded on Thursday in Quito, Ecuador, with the adoption of the New Urban Agenda (NUA), meant to guide city development world-wide over the next two decades. The NUA is supposed to be bolstered by the Quito Implementation Plan, a set of commitments from various partners to contribute to the implementation of the NUA.
Centre for Development Studies at the University of Bath
CDS's Tri-annual newsletter is out now - see all the content here.
DPP at the Open University
DPP produce a monthly e-newsletter highlighting research and events within International Development from across the OU and beyond. You can subscribe here or access the archive here.
Conferences
University of East London (UEL)
UEL International Development Undergraduate Conference, 12 November 2016, See website.
Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford CfP
Call for papers - Beyond Crisis: Rethinking Refugee Studies- 16 & 17 March 2017, Keble College Oxford
Deadline for submissions: 5pm (GMT), 15 November 2016, details online here.
Courses & Seminars
DPP, Open University Seminar Series
The annual International Development Seminar Series at The Open University is hosted by Development Policy and Practice and supported by the IKD research centre. The seminars are free and open to all and a buffet lunch is available from 12.00, followed by the presentation and discussion 12.30 - 14.00. (Although some timings may differ).
You can find out more and view the abstracts for upcoming talks on the IKD website.
LIDC's Evaluation for Development Programmes, 7-11 November
This short course returns for a third year. Aimed at anyone looking to gain an in-depth knowledge and comprehensive background of evaluation methods for development programmes, this course will cover a range of topics. Read more
Job vacancies
Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich
Livelihoods and Institutions: 1273 Social Scientist - Quantitative Socio-economic Methods
The Natural Resources Institute (NRI) is an internationally renowned multi-disciplinary centre of the University of Greenwich that undertakes research, consultancy and training to support global food security, sustainable development and poverty reduction. NRI is recruiting a Social Scientist to work principally on Monitoring and Evaluation and Impact Assessment. You will have a higher degree in economics/environmental economics or other relevant subject, experience in the design and use of quantitative methods in research and/or development and some developing country field experience. The position is based at our Medway campus and will involve frequent short-term overseas travel. Further information here.
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
Development Officer
Location: either London or New York.
Deadline for applications: 23 November 2016 (12:00pm EST/5:00pm GMT).
See the full details & how to apply here.
NGOs and student internships: who benefits?
Discussions between academics and practitioners have highlighted that there are many opportunities for collaboration between NGOs and students, either directly or through the student’s institution, and a variety of outcomes for both parties from these collaborations.
As part of DSA's commitment to supporting and facilitating collaborations between under and postgraduate students and the development community in the form of short projects or longer internships in the UK and internationally, we would like to hear NGO experiences of hosting students, the forms this has taken, and what makes internships successful. Enter this conversation here.
