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.”
A new report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), for which Professor Xiaolan Fu was principal consultant, examines how developing countries can build digital competencies to ensure they benefit from frontier technologies in a way that supports sustainable development.
Recent technological changes, particularly driven by the rapid development of information and communications technologies (ICTs), offer the potential to transform economies and improve the living standards of many people.
However, they also have strong potential to disrupt productive sectors and markets, including through technological convergence and recombination.
This study explores ways in which digital skills can be developed and harnessed to ensure that they support sustainable development.
The report comprises the following:
UNCTAD (2019) ‘Building Digital Competencies to Benefit from Frontier Technologies’, Geneva: UNCTAD
Xiaolan Fu is Director of the Technology and Management Centre for Development (TMCD) at ODID and Professor of Technology and International Development.