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.”
Headline findings from the first call of Young LIves at Work's Phone Survey in Ethiopia, India and Peru have now been published. The Survey investigates the short and medium-term impact of Covid-19 on the health, well-being, employment and education trajectories of young people in the study.
The survey findings show that Covid-19 is exacerbating the effects of poverty on young people in the study countries regardless of the virus’s prevalence, and that there may be long-ranging consequences for young people as well as for the economic security of their countries.
Calls were held with more than 11,000 Young Lives respondents in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam. Short headline reports from Ethiopia, India and Peru are now published, with the report from Vietnam being released later this week.
‘Job losses or suspension without pay are widespread, and remote working is the exception rather than the rule. Education in all countries has been severely disrupted and access to online learning has been highly unequal’, said Marta Favara, Deputy Director of Young Lives at Work and one of the leading authors of the study. ‘The young people we interviewed have all been affected by the Covid-19 crisis, with their home, school and work lives each disrupted.’
Although incidence of the virus is low, lockdown has exacerbated instability and pre-existing inequalities; for those already living in poverty their unstable living conditions have been eroded even further:
These headline reports are the first in a series, with further analysis following in November when the second phone call in the series will be completed.
Dr Favara added, ‘the pandemic is changing rapidly in all our study countries. The second calls will allow us a more in-depth examination of how the crisis is affecting young people in their work, home lives and education and their health and well-being.’
Read more on Young Lives at Work here.