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.”
Sarah von Billerbeck is Lecturer in Politics and International Relations and co-Director of the UN and Global Order Programme at the University of Reading. Her research focuses on peacekeeping and peacebuilding, post-conflict reconstruction, the United Nations, international organizations, and legitimacy. She currently holds an ESRC Future Research Leaders Grant for a two-year project entitled ‘Self-Legitimation by International Organizations,’ in which she is conducting a comparative study of the UN, NATO, and the World Bank. She is also co-Principal Investigator on a large ESRC-funded project entitled ‘Enabling Authoritarianism? United Nations Peacebuilding and Authoritarian Rule’ with Oisín Tansey of King’s College London (start date June 2018) and Principal Investigator of a small project looking at performance management in international organizations (December 2017-July 2018). She is also interested in banking and peacebuilding, leadership of peace operations, multilateralism and peace operations, and methodological issues in studying the UN. Her book on local ownership and UN peacekeeping operations was published by Oxford University Press in December 2016 (https://global.oup.com/academic/product/whose-peace-9780198755708?cc=gb&...). She previously worked for the UN peacekeeping mission in D.R. Congo (MONUC), the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia in Lebanon, and the American Refugee Committee in Guinea. She currently serves as Reviews Editor for International Peacekeeping, and she is an Associate Member of Nuffield College, University of Oxford; an Executive Committee Member-at-Large of the International Studies Association's International Organization Section; a Steering Committee Member of OxPeace, University of Oxford; and a Trustee of the Oxford Peace Research Trust. She holds a DPhil from the University of Oxford, an MS from Georgetown University, and a BA from UC Berkeley.