Large grant-funded research centres (LGRCs) have become a dominant model in development studies, often placing large budgets and junior staff under the direction of one or two senior ‘PIs’. But are they delivering the transformative research they promise? Or are there unintended outcomes of this concentration of research funding? 

Drawing on research and a policy brief published by Portia Roelofs, this DSA discussion brings together leading scholars to reflect on how LGRCs shape research cultures, power relations, and career trajectories. 

The discussion explores the promise and pitfalls of concentrating research funding in large centres  and what funders, PIs and institutions can do differently. It is a candid conversation about how the nuts and bolts of research funding intersect with big questions around epistemic justice, decolonising and quality assurance in research.