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 January 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:
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 are invited to submit one MA or MSc dissertation each for consideration. This year nominations will be accepted between 29 October and 17 December. We ask 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 are happy to accept nominations of extended essays but these needed to be of exceptional quality to win when compared to longer dissertations. The nominations are evaluated by an academic panel from the DSA. Decisions will be made in mid-February 2022 and the winners and their departments notified. We look forward to the winners presenting their research at the DSA2022 conference in July.
Please send nominations to membershipadmin(AT)devstud.org.uk stating the title of the dissertation and the student name.
This year the DSA unveils a new dissertation 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 dissertation 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 are invited to submit one PhD dissertation each for consideration. Nominations will be accepted between 17th January and 1st March 2022. We ask all the Heads of Centres of DSA affiliated institutions in the UK to nominate the highest scoring/ most promising PhD dissertation awarded on their “international development” or related subject programmes in 2021. The nominations will be evaluated by an academic panel from the DSA. Decisions will be made by end April 2022 and the winner and their department notified. The winner will be invited to present their research at the DSA annual conference held in June/ July each year.
Please send nominations to membershipadmin(AT)devstud.org.uk stating the title of the dissertation and the student name.
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”