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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DSA2025

Our conference this year is themed "Navigating crisis: dangers and opportunities in development"

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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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Decolonising Development

The initiatives we are undertaking that work towards decolonising development studies

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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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New titles for July

Practical Action 50 years

Practical Action 50 years

In celebration of Practical Action’s 50th anniversary they are pleased to offer DSA members and conference attendees 50% off our books online. Simply visit practicalactionpublishing.com and use code SINCE1974 at checkout! Start shopping!

Reflecting Forewords

Robert Chambers, Tessa Lewin

Reflecting Forewords is an unashamedly ambitious book. Full of lessons from the past that are relevant for the future, it is a compilation of inspiring forewords from books written by Robert Chambers; one of the most influential and prolific scholars to write about participation, poverty, and knowledge in development studies.

Tessa Lewin, Robert’s colleague and an experienced practitioner and researcher, has worked with Robert to weave together the forewords alongside a series of reflections from other practitioners and scholars in the field.

Armed with a university degree, the Boy Scout’s solemn oath and a snakebite kit which he left on the plane, Ian Smillie set out more than 50 years ago to confront ignorance, want and war. He taught at a remote school in Sierra Leone, was an aid administrator in Nigeria during the Biafran War and for a time he knew more about cement than anyone else in Bangladesh.

This is a memoir about development: personal development, the development of ideas and understanding, rights and justice, war and peace, poverty and prosperity. It’s about one of the greatest imperatives of our time: the drive to end global poverty and why, despite exaggerated claims to the contrary, it isn’t working.

­This book is inspired by the dedication of people across

global contexts who have worked with children in

communities to improve their lives. In its chapters, they

share a vision where conditions are improved to attain

child and youth rights and intergenerational justice.

 

­This book is inspired by the dedication of people across global contexts who have worked with children in communities to improve their lives. In its chapters, they share a vision where conditions are improved to attain child and youth rights and intergenerational justice.

 

Practical Action Publishing can offer free access to all their books and articles. Ask your institution to get in touch with them – we can set up affordable platform access that suits your students’ and colleagues’ bespoke needs. Find out more here or email to find out more.

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