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.”
Opinion and analysis from across the ODID community
The views expressed in posts do not necessarily reflect the views of the department itself or of the University of Oxford. They should be understood as the personal opinions of the author.
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MPhil in Development Studies student Matai Muon reflects on the barriers he encountered as a refugee in Kenya seeking education and employment, and argues new changes to the law there must be fully applied to enable others to fulfil their potential.
This story was originally published by The New Humanitarian.
MPhil in Development Studies student Matai Muon reflects on the barriers he encountered as a refugee in Kenya seeking education and employment, and argues new changes to the law there must be fully applied...
When refugees use humanitarian assistance in rational but unexpected ways, aid agencies often fail to understand this “off script” response. Identifying the roles actors in the aid system are expected to...
Carlos Vargas-Silva gets more than he expected - including a very late night - out of a glitzy new streaming series about the predecessor to the International Rescue Committee
As conservation agendas across the Global South increasingly rely on environmental markets, we explore how policies that pay landowners for forest protection play out in local contexts, and detect the...
New modelling explores the medium-term macroeconomic impact of the COVID pandemic in low-income countries and shows the need for significant and sustained concessional external financing to reverse loss-of-...
From supporting widows to promoting comedy acts, innovative YouTube channels launched by refugees in Nairobi are helping them gain both an income and a sense of belonging
New research from Young Lives on foundational cognitive skills provides ground-breaking evidence that children from households benefitting from Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) have better...
As development thinkers challenge the construct of “the South”, our research explores its layered origins and argues that it can play a constructive role in understanding and addressing global power...
Analysis of social media posts during two recent periods of intense contestation sheds light on how political actors make use of emotion to mobilise support
In the latest post in our mini-series highlighting how our alumni are researching and tackling climate change, Dr Ramin Nassehi argues the need to turn economics teaching on its head and start with real-...