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.”
Christian Oldiges is Research Officer at the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI). He initially joint OPHI in 2011 and has been involved with many calculations and regional decompositions of OPHI's Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI).
In July 2016, Christian submitted his doctoral thesis at Heidelberg University, Germany. The main focus of his thesis was on measuring the impact of India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Act on poverty, consumption, and financial decisions. As part of his doctoral research, he also developed the Nutritional Deprivation Index (NDI), which enables the measurement of inadequacies in dietary diversity using ordinary household survey data easily available in developing countries.
Prior to his doctoral studies in Development Economics, Christian gained undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Economics at Heidelberg University with visiting studies at Hindu College and the Delhi School of Economics (DSE), both at Delhi University, New Delhi, India. He has worked as a teaching assistant at Heidelberg University and as a research assistant at the DSE and the GB Pant Institute of Social Sciences, Allahabad, India.
Christian Oldiges has been a Teaching Assistant in Development Economics at Heidelberg University.