Our Aims and Objectives
We are the UK association for all those who research, study and teach global development issues
Find Out MoreThe DSA is committed to supporting the development of students and early career researchers
Students and early career researchers are an important part of our community. To support this new generation of development scholars, we:
We have two student representatives on Council, and our student members are very welcome to contact them with any suggestions or concerns. There is also a popular DSA student group on Facebook with over 1,500 members.
This year at our virtual conference we held two sessions on getting published, one focused on journals and one on books, aimed primarily at PhD students and Early Career Researchers. You can view the recordings of these sessions here.
The DSA offers funding each year to support early career researchers (including PhD students) in collective research and engagement.
We aim to fund at least three events per year. An annual budget of £7000 is available and there is no limit on the amount per application.
The current call is open until 15th September 2022.
To be eligible, you must be a postgraduate researcher (including PhD students) or early career researcher (PhD and Masters) up to five years post degree. We prioritise applicants who have been DSA members (individual, student or global South) for at least one year prior to application.
The application consists of two parts:
Budget spreadsheet – send by email
Note that you must complete the form in one session – you cannot save your answers and return to it. You can view the questions on a PDF if you’d like to think about your answers before completing the form.
Once you submit the form, you will see an on-screen notification that your responses have been recorded. Please do not complete this form twice: if you have already completed this form and wish to amend your data or are unsure if your application was recorded/received then email the DSA administrators – [email protected]
Since 2015 the DSA has awarded an annual dissertation prize to Masters’ students working in the field of international development, development studies and development economics. This annual prize is awarded to the best masters’ level dissertation in these fields of study.
For the 2022 prize, all Development Studies and Economics departments in the UK were invited to submit one MA or MSc dissertation each for consideration. This year nominations were accepted between 29 October and 17 December. We asked all the Heads of Centres of DSA affiliated institutions in the UK to nominate the highest scoring masters’ dissertation (MA or MSc) awarded on their “international development” or related subject programmes in 2021. We were happy to accept nominations of extended essays but these needed to be of exceptional quality to win when compared to longer dissertations. The nominations were evaluated by an academic panel from the DSA. Decisions were made in mid-February 2022 and the winner and their department notified.
The winner of the 2022 DSA Masters Dissertation Prize is Joy Lin from the Institute of Development Studies for her thesis entitled “#MeToo with Chinese Characteristics– Analysis through The Lens of Chinese Feminism”. The judging panel agreed unanimously that this was an innovative and accomplished dissertation, notable for its embedding of the analysis and theory in a specifically Chinese literature tradition. The focus on the #MeTooCN movement, and thinking about the specific historic and cultural context from which it emerged from, and how that shaped it in ways that differed from other #MeToo movements gave it considerable originality. The methodological approach of the autoethnography was fully incorporated and embedded in the analysis. It spoke to the power of social movements and education as the author’s personal journey was reflected in their academic trajectory. This reflection on growth was embedded in the analysis in a deeply thoughtful and analytical manner, and the analysis overall was excellent with wonderful critical insight. We look forward to Joy presenting her research at the DSA2022 conference in July.
This year the DSA unveiled a new thesis prize for PhD students working in the field of international development, development studies and development economics. This will be an annual prize awarded to the best PhD thesis in these fields of studies from across current DSA institutional members.
For the 2022 prize, all Development Studies and Economics departments in the UK that are institutional members of the DSA were invited to submit one PhD thesis each for consideration. Nominations were accepted between 17th January and 8th March 2022. We asked all the Heads of Centres of DSA affiliated institutions in the UK to nominate the highest scoring/ most promising PhD thesis in their “international development” or related subject department(s) from a student who graduated* in 2021. The nominations were evaluated by an academic panel from the DSA. Decisions were made by early May 2022 and the winner and highly commended and their departments notified. The winner has been invited to present their research at the DSA annual conference held in early July this year.
Please note only PhDs by monograph or papers were eligible for consideration, NOT PhDs by publications or professional doctorates.
* The point at which a graduate is officially allowed to call themselves ‘Doctor’.
The winner of the 2022 DSA PhD thesis Prize is Ikuno Naka from the Oxford Department of International Development for her thesis entitled “The ‘Realty’ of Cochin: from the material to the spectacular, a story of India’s emerging city”.
There were also two highly commended entries in the 2022 DSA PhD thesis Prize: Arie Ruhyanto from IDD, University of Birmingham and Elizabeth Storer from the Department of International Development, LSE.
The judging panel made the following comments on Arie’s thesis:
“This is a very good thesis which makes a significant contribution to the literature and theory on state and governance, state legitimacy, and local government. Through its analysis of the literature, and the primary research on the case study, it makes a strong argument for understanding the state through not only a traditional Weberian institutional lens, but also as a creation and reflection of social relations. State legitimacy is therefore presented in a highly complex way, and the exploration of territorial administrative reform of local governance adds to our understanding of state legitimacy without undermining the complexity of the argument.”
and on Elizabeth’s thesis:
“This original and empirically-rich study explores “everyday” processes of social repair in contemporary West Nile (NW Uganda), focusing on dynamics of healing and spiritual governance/ordering among Lugbara communities. The thesis situates itself within the scholarly and policy/practice literature on transitional justice – and “everyday” peace – and makes a highly original and reflective critique of Western “template”-style approaches. It draws on an extensive set of ethnographic data collected during 3 phases of fieldwork, totalling 14 months in total. This allows for the development of a rich and nuanced explanation of a range of healing processes and dynamics across space and time. Conceptually, the study works hard to critically unpack and engage with terms and ideas deriving from Lugbara culture and society. Methodologically, the study is detailed and robust, with significant attention to the author’s positionality.”
2022
PhD thesis prize winner:
Ikuno Naka of ODID, University of Oxford – “The ‘Realty’ of Cochin: from the material to the spectacular, a story of India’s emerging city”
PhD thesis prize – highly commended:
Arie Ruhyanto of the IDD, University of Birmingham – “Building State Legitimacy Through Territorial Reform: Pemekeran in Papua, Indonesia”
Elizabeth Storer of the Department of International Development, LSE – “Lugbara religion revisited: a study of social repair in West Nile, North-West Uganda“
Masters prize winner:
Joy Lin of the Institute of Development Studies – “#MeToo with Chinese Characteristics– Analysis through The Lens of Chinese Feminism”
2021
Suzanne Loader of the Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh – “Conflict or coexistence? A comparative analysis of depictions of human-wildlife interactions in the Kenyan media landscape” and
Adela Syslova of the Department of Development Studies, SOAS University of London – “Whose Sustainability? Political Economy of renewable energy transitions in Morocco and Algeria”
2020
Euan Crispin of the SIID, University of Sheffield – “The Dubai of Africa? Exploring the role of aesthetic representation in the construction of Eko Atlantic City, Lagos”
2019
Hamid Khalafallah of the Division of Peace Studies & International Development, University of Bradford – “The Role of Development NGOs In the Context of Authoritarian Regimes: A Case Study of Sudan”
2018
Bushra Rehman of IDD, University of Birmingham – “The intersection of gender and disability in exacerbating poverty in displacement settings: Jordan as a case study” and
Henrique Lopes Valenca of GDI, University of Manchester – “Industrial policy and structural change in Brazil after the Washington Consensus (2003 – 2014)”
2017
Henna Akram, SOAS – “Are private schools delivering better education? An empirical analysis of the differences in academic achievement between children in private and public schools in Pakistan” and
Paul Fenton Villar, UEA – “Evaluating the impact of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) on corruption in Zambia”
2016
Robert Mwanamanga, University of Bradford – “Does foreign aid promote growth? Evidence from Malawi”