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.”
Research on the economics of development has been a long-standing strength of the department. Characterised by an emphasis on the testing of analytical models on primary empirical data, research on this theme engages with the full spectrum of development economics.
The main areas of research include land and labour markets; the microeconomics of firm- and household-level behaviour and productivity; agriculture, urbanisation, structural transformation and growth; technology and innovation; and trade, macroeconomic policy, public investment and debt.
The research groups working on this theme are the International Growth Centre (IGC), jointly with the Department of Economics and the London School of Economics; and the Technology and Management Centre for Development (TMCD). Our researchers are key members of the Centre for the Study of African Economies, which straddles ODID, the Department of Economics and the Blavatnik School of Government.
Fieldwork photo by Jean-Benoit Falisse, DPhil in International Development