Global Development Institute lecture series
In a fast moving world, the Global Development Institute Lecture Series provides space for leading development thinkers to discuss their latest research and ideas. Lectures are free and open to all.
The Global Development Institute lecture series is open to staff, students and the general public, no booking required - just turn up.
2024/25
Semester 1
- Global development today… Whose ‘development’ is it really?, Deborah Doane (author) and Nana Asantewa Afadzinu (West Africa Civil Society Institute)
- Fairtrade: Celebrating 30 years of a movement for global economic justice, Mike Gidney (Fairtrade Foundation), Emily Pierce (Co-op), Joanna Abena Fianu (Fairtrade Lancashire), Stephanie Barrientos (GDI)
- Resource-backed loans and their implications for value addition in commodity-dependent countries: The case of Ghana's cocoa syndicated loans, Fuad Mohammed Abubakar (Ghana Cocoa Marketing Company)
- The suburban frontier: Middle-class construction in Dar es Salaam, Claire Mercer (LSE)
- Uneven development and political cleavage in Africa: Regional tensions around new growth models, Catherine Boone (LSE)
- A political epistemology of international development, David Ludwig (Wageningen)
- From development to democracy: The transformations of modern Asia, Dan Slater (Michigan) and Joe Wong (Toronto)
- Dams, power and the politics of Ethiopia’s renaissance, Tom Lavers (GDI)
Semester 2
- Film Screening and Panel Discussion: We Don't Do Charity, Alan Braithwaite (Executive Producer) Amanda Campbell (Producer) David Campbell (Director)
- Do Courts Grant Women Their Inheritance Claims?, Bina Agarwal (GDI)
- Book Talk: City of Desire: Biography of the Largest Informal Settlement in Bangladesh, Tanzil Shafique (University of Sheffield)
- Enforcers Beyond Borders: The Growing Role of NGOs in International Law Enforcement and Effects on Wider Advocacy Movements, Mette Eilstrup-Sangiovanni (University of Cambridge)
- Africa’s Structural Transformation for Job Creation: Trends and Policy Priorities, Federico Bonaglia (OECD Development Centre)
- Decolonization and the Future of Academic Research - Panel Discussion, Diana Mitlin (African Cities Research Consortium, GDI); Eyob Gebremariam (Perivoli Africa research centre, Bristol); Dani Beltrame (Slum Dwellers International and GDI); Tina Cribbin (Aquarius Savers, Ageing Well in Place in Hulme)
- Class, Politics, and Agrarian Policies in Post-Liberalisation India, Sejuti Das Gupta (Michigan State University)
- The War on Gaza: Historical Context and Future Possibilities, Nadia Naser-Najjab (University of Exeter)
- Age of Abandonment: States of Uncaring from Syria to Gaza, Noam Leshem (Durham University)
- Living the Urban Periphery: Our Book and Related Thoughts..., Paula Meth (University of Glasgow) and Tom Goodfellow (University of Sheffield)
2023/24
- Cotton capital: Slavery and the industrial revolution in Manchester, Prof David Olusoga (University of Manchester), Prof Uma Kothari (University of Manchester), Prof Dawn Edge (University of Manchester), Maya Wolfe-Robinson (journalist), Jeevan Sanghera (graduate)
- The politics of complaint: Digitalizing discontent, in Bangladesh and beyond, Prof Naomi Hossain (SOAS)
- Where do we go from here? Navigating power inequalities between development NGOs in the aid system
- Contending nationalisms in Ethiopia: New contours of Amhara politics, Dr Dereje Feyissa Dori (Addis Ababa University)
- Re-orienting global development: The multiscalar dynamics of de-risking Chinese infrastructure investment in Europe, Prof Giles Mohan (Open University)
- Ethiopia's 'Developmental State': Political order and distributive crisis, Dr Tom Lavers (University of Manchester)
- Social protection in Latin America: Causality, stratification, and outcomes, Prof Armando Barrientos (University of Manchester)
- The infrastructural South: Techno-environments of the third wave of urbanization, Dr Jon Silver
- Industrialization and assimilation: Understanding ethnic change in the modern world, Prof Elliott Green (LSE)
- Resilience to economic shrinking as a development strategy for the 21st century, Dr. Martin Andersson and Dr. Tobias Axelsson (Lund University)
- Doing conjuncture: 'Analyzing situations', extending cases, and contextual theorizing in urban and regional studies, Prof Jamie Peck (UBC)
2022/23
- FutureDAMS - Addressing the water-energy-food-environment challenge David Hulme, Mohammed Basheer, Julien Harou
- Understanding migration dynamics in the Horn of Africa Laura Hammond
- Lost Lands: Indigenous People and Land Rights in East Africa Ambreena Manji
- Batman saves the Congo: How Celebrities Disrupt the Politics of Development Lisa Ann Richey
2021/22
- Understanding the contemporary food crisis: structural causes, structural solutions Haroon Akram-Lodhi
- The New International Economic Order & the Right to Development Jennifer Bair
- Disaggregating China, Inc: State Strategies in the Liberal Economic Order Yeling Tan
- Global Covid-19 vaccine inequality: looking back, looking forward? Karrar Karrar, Lara Dovifat, Ken Shadlen
- Shifting South: Regional Value Chains, South-South Trade and Decent Work in Sub Saharan Africa Stephanie Barrientos, Khalid Nadvi, Matthew Alford, Shane Godfrey, Maggie Opondo, Margareet Visser
- Putting People First Khalid Malik, Jean-Paul Fitoussi, Robert Skidelsky & Jill Rubery
- Why we can now win on global financial governance Jonathan Glennie
- How can we bridge the gap between local and global knowledge in urban development research? Shuaib Lwasa
- From protest to progress? Why addressing global discontent is essential to build back better from the COVID-19 pandemic Alexander Pick
- From China to Covid: Impacts on the Global and Local Political Economies of Trash Kate O'Neill
- Maritime Temporalities and Capitalist Development Liam Campling & Alejandro Colás
- Clash of Powers: US-China Rivalry in Global Trade Governance Kristen Hopewell
- Labour regimes and Global Production Networks Neil Coe (recording unavailable)
2020/21
- The Political Economies of Energy Transition; Wind and Solar power in Brazil and South Africa Kathy Hochstetler
- Covid-19, Garment Workers and the Development Challenge in the Global South Mark Anner
- A Discussion on the World Bank Poverty and Shared Prosperity Report 2020 Michael Woolcock & Kate Meagher as discussant
- SDG1 - The last three per centMartin Ravallion
- Panel - The social and economic impacts of Covid-19 Diego Sanchez-Ancochea and Bina Agarwal
- What Covid-19 reveals about 21st century capitalism - Susan Sell
- An introduction to the African Cities Research Consortium - Diana Mitlin, Sam Hickey and Martin Atela
- Compressed Development: Time and Timing in Economic and Social Development - D. Hugh Whittaker and Timothy Sturgeon
- Imperialism and the Developing World - Atul Kohli
- How to Fight Inequality: (and Why That Fight Needs You) - Ben Phillips
2019/20
- Gender and Work: Capturing the gains in global value chains Stephanie Barrientos
- How China is reshaping the global economy: development impacts in Africa and Latin America Rhys Jenkins
- Urban Warfare: housing under the empire of finance Raquel Rolnik
- Trends in inequality Tony Shorrocks
- Can technology solve global poverty? Rachel Glennerster
- Spatial inequality in African political economy: rethinking uneven development Cathy Boone
- In China's Wake: How the commodity boom transformed development strategies in the global south Nick Jepson
- Civil society aid as balancing act - Navigating between managerial and social transformative principles Jelmer Kamstra and Zoe Abrahamson
2018/19
- Dignifying development: Democratic deepening in an Indian State Indrajit Roy (York University)
- The southernisation of development? Who has ‘socialised’ who in the new millennium? Emma Mawdsley (Cambridge University)
- Autocracy with democratic characteristics: How the West got China wrong Yuen Yuen Ang (University of Michigan)
- A world for the many, not the few Kate Osamor MP (Shadow Secretary of State for International Development)
- Women - Equality - Power Rt Hon. Helen Clark (former Prime Minister of New Zealand, former head of the UNDP)
- How can irrigation contribute to agricultural growth in Africa? Phil Woodhouse (Global Development Institute)
- What social network analysis can tell us about multi-stakeholder partnerships Moira Faul & Jordan Soukias Tchilingirian
- Developmental states Stephan Haggard
- Blood bricks: untold stories of modern slavery and climate change from Cambodia Katherine Brickell
- Property, institutions, and social stratification in Africa Franklin Obeng-Odoom
- Agrarian crises, institutional innovation and gender: Can group farming provide an answer? Bina Agarwal
- The business of forced labour in global agricultural supply chains Genevieve Le Baron
- Ambitious & ambiguous public investments in African cities Edgar Pieterse
2017/18
- Addressing shelter inequalities: Lessons from urban India Prof Diana Mitlin, (The University of Manchester)
- Economics of populism Prof Dani Rodrik (Harvard)
- Flickering in the dark: Urban tissue as provisional care Prof AbdouMaliq Simone (University of South Australia)
- A political economy approach to collective action, inequality and development Prof William Ferguson (Grinnell College)
- Evidence for Influencing: Balancing research integrity and campaign strategy in Oxfam Dr Irene Guijt (Oxfam GB)
- India: the Long Road to Prosperity Vijay Joshi (University of Oxford)
- Are some countries destined for under-development? Dr Ha-Joon Chang (University of Cambridge)
- Understanding Zimbabwe: from liberation to authoritarianism Dr Sara Dorman (The University of Edinburgh)
2016/17
- Should Rich Nations Help the Poor? Professor David Hulme (Global Development Institute, The University of Manchester)
- The UK’s Post-Brexit Trade Policy: What about development? Professor Alan Winters (The University of Sussex)
- Capitalism and Conservation in the Age of Security: The Vitalization of the State Professor Elizabeth Lunstrum (York University)
- The Magic Number: 1.5°C or 2°C Limit on Warming. But, what does this actually mean for Least Developed Countries? Dr Saleemul Huq (Director of International Centre for Climate Change & Development and Senior Fellow at International Institute for Environment and Development)
- Bangladesh Confronts Climate Change: Keeping Our Heads Above Water Professor David Hulme (Global Development Institute, The University of Manchester) Dr Manoj Roy (Lancaster University) and Dr Joseph Hanlon (Open University)
- Designing Interventions in Developing Water-Energy-Food SystemsProfessor Julien Harou (The University of Manchester).
- “Too close for comfort, relatively speaking? Development NGOs’ dependence on home government funding in comparative perspective”.Professor Lauchlan T Munro (Ottawa University)
- Predatory states and Economic developmentProfessor Mehrdad Vahabi (University of Paris)
- Gender, Urbanisation and Poverty: Principles, Practice, and the Space of SlumsProfessor Sylvia Chant (London School of Economics)
- Resilience, Development and Global Change: Resistance, Rootedness and Resourcefulness Professor Katrina Brown (University of Exeter)
- The Global Arms Trade and International Law: Prevention is Better than Cure Dr Shavana Musa (The University of Manchester)