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.”
We are delighted to announce that Professor Ruben Andersson has been awarded a three-year Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship starting in September 2023 for a project titled ‘Apocalypse Soon: Security, subversion and the struggle for a human future'.
The project will lead to a book on the expansion of global security agendas in times of crisis.
Leverhulme Major Research Fellowships are aimed at well-established, distinguished researchers in the humanities and social sciences to enable them to complete a piece of original research.
According to the Leverhulme Trust, competition for awards was particularly keen this year; it received 160 applications and awarded 30 Fellowships across the UK.
Professor Andersson is an anthropologist working on migration, borders and security with a focus on the West African Sahel and southern Europe. He is Professor of Social Anthropology at ODID.
‘I’m delighted to receive this Fellowship,' Professor Andersson said. 'It’s a unique opportunity to draw together and develop various strands of research on borders, security, and surveillance into an ambitious book project. Leverhulme major research fellowships are especially welcome in how they encourage us to look beyond narrow specialisations, which is fundamental in order to address today’s complex landscape of crisis and insecurity.’