The department is a lively community that is recognised internationally as one of the top centres for research and teaching in development studies.

Our courses offer excellent training for a career in international development or for advanced study, and attract students of the highest calibre from across the world.
“I had waited for 10 years before my dream to study in Oxford became a reality and the experience was truly beyond expectation”
Our students are taught to develop as critical and independent thinkers and when they leave us they are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to bring about real change.
“My time at Oxford strengthened my critical analysis and provided me with a unique interdisciplinary grounding in history, politics and economics that has equipped me well in dealing with public policy issues and program development strategy.”
Our courses offer excellent training for a career in international development or for advanced study, and attract students of the highest calibre from across the world.
“I had waited for 10 years before my dream to study in Oxford became a reality and the experience was truly beyond expectation”
Our courses offer excellent training for a career in international development or for advanced study, and attract students of the highest calibre from across the world.
“I had waited for 10 years before my dream to study in Oxford became a reality and the experience was truly beyond expectation”
Our students are taught to develop as critical and independent thinkers and when they leave us they are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to bring about real change.
“My time at Oxford strengthened my critical analysis and provided me with a unique interdisciplinary grounding in history, politics and economics that has equipped me well in dealing with public policy issues and program development strategy.”
Our students are taught to develop as critical and independent thinkers and when they leave us they are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to bring about real change.
“My time at Oxford strengthened my critical analysis and provided me with a unique interdisciplinary grounding in history, politics and economics that has equipped me well in dealing with public policy issues and program development strategy.”
The ODID blog ran from 2012-19 and brought together commentary and analysis by staff, students, alumni and friends of the department on the issues we research.
The views expressed in posts do not necessarily reflect the views of ODID or of the University of Oxford. They should be understood as the personal opinions of the author.
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The Arab uprisings in 2011 were not just aimed at overthrowing authoritarian regimes but were also targeted at a well-entrenched system of economic privilege where those attached to the ruler’s insider circle had monopolized all economic opportunities.
For every regime that faced a popular backlash in the Middle East, there were some prominent businesses who became the symbol of corruption and injustice. In Egypt it was Ahmed Ezz, the steel magnate.
Myfanwy: I have recently returned from North Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where I was conducting fieldwork with the aim of understanding how humanitarian organisations have...
If you follow tech news and research in the field of ‘information and communication technologies for development’ (ICT4D), you will sooner or later come across the idea that mobile phones are ubiquitous....
It is a widely accepted fact in academia and policy circles that Latin America has experienced important gains in human development outcomes over the last decade, mainly through the creation of new non-...
We are now all aware of how our electoral systems have been manipulated by harvesting our digital footprints and preferences. Targeted messages, images and false information are then deployed to support or...
Jobs are at the centre of the eighth goal of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) calling for the promotion of ‘sustained, inclusive and...
Rapid technological development in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has triggered a growing debate about its ethical, political and legal implications for our daily lives. In this post, I suggest...
In January in Berlin, UN agencies, donors, NGOs and the private sector came together to ensure that the humanitarian sector contributes to the achievement of...
Today’s observance of International Women’s Day celebrating ‘the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women’ is prompting us to blog about our thinking on gender, feminism and social...
In 2016, more than 20% of the world’s under-5 year olds (155 million children overall) were stunted, or too short compared to healthy peers of...