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.
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...
Syrian refugees in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, have found security from the ravaging conflict in Syria. However, in spite of the commendable efforts from the host country and the UN, as well as other...
MSc alumnus Theophilus Kwek reflects on a seminar series he organised at the RSC that brought refugee writers, and those who work with them, to the department to consider literary responses to home,...
Associate Professor John Hammock offers a personal reflection on his return to Cañar, in the Highlands of Ecuador, nearly 50 years after first visiting to carry out research, and the visible transformation...
Policymakers and aid agencies in sub-Saharan Africa are increasingly encouraging...
After several years in the making, the new Young Lives book 'Tracing the Consequences of Child Poverty', or 'Tracing’, as we authors have come to call the volume, is published. What a journey it has been!...
In her book on humanitarian technology, K.L. Jacobsen...
India’s 2019 national elections are widely anticipated to be the “WhatsApp elections”. Against a backdrop of rapidly improving...
Commercial DNA testing kits seem to be everywhere these days. If you are in the United States (or, soon, in the United Kingdom), you may have come across them when visiting your local ...
On 9 March 2015, a student hurled faeces at a statue of British colonialist Cecil Rhodes. This act led to...