Application process
The Global Development Institute provides PhD researchers with the opportunity to study a wide variety of exciting topics in global development.
Admission to studying for a PhD is highly competitive, so please allow as much time as possible to prepare your application, browse our research pages and academics' profiles, and familiarise yourself with the application process and any important deadlines.
Many of the scholarships have early deadlines so if you are looking for funding you are advised to apply early.
Application requirements
Your completed application should include:
- two references, one of which should be familiar with your academic work, on headed paper from the institution, signed, dated and stamped;
- a degree certificate and transcript for your bachelor's and master's degrees;
- a research proposal;
- evidence of your English language proficiency;
- a personal statement outlining your reasons for wishing to study on the programme, and the experience and skills you will bring;
- a detailed CV.
Finding a supervisor
Your supervisor will be an important part of your PhD programme. It's a close relationship over many years, through which you develop your ideas, skills, thinking and research. As a result, your supervisor's research interests need to closely align with yours. PhD study is structured through the PhD Supervisory Framework and PhD researchers are part of the Rory and Elizabeth Brooks Doctoral College.
If you aren't applying for a specific project, you'll need to find potential supervisors who will support your research. Details on recent publications, ongoing projects and particular research interests are all available on our academics' profiles.
It is important to approach academics who complement your research interests before you apply.
Most potential supervisors will also be happy to provide pre-submission feedback on a well-developed draft proposal that closely matches their research expertise. For more guidance, see How to write a research proposal.
Potential PhD supervisors
The following researchers are currently available to supervise PhD students.
Digital development
Digital technologies have the potential to catalyse development, but they can also accentuate inequality and fuel injustice.
- Dr Shamel Azmeh - Senior Lecturer in Technology, Labour and Production
- Dr Katarzyna Cieslik - Lecturer, Global Development
- Dr Richard Duncombe - Senior Lecturer, Information Systems and Development
- Dr Christopher Foster – Presidential Fellow, Industry 4.0
- Dr Ping Gao - Senior Lecturer, Information Systems
- Prof Richard Heeks - Professor, Digital Development (group convenor)
- Dr Gianluca Iazzolino - Lecturer, Digital Development
- Dr Aarti Krishnan - Hallsworth Research Fellow
- Dr Negar Monazam Tabrizi - Lecturer in Information Systems and Digital Development
- Dr Smith Ouma - Leverhulme Early Career Fellow
- Dr Rose Pritchard - Presidential Fellow in Socio-Environmental Systems
- Dr Jaco Renken - Senior Lecturer, Information and Communication Technology for Development
- Dr Gindo Tampubolon - Senior Lecturer, Poverty, Inequality and Growth
Digital development research group
Migration, refugees and asylum
The contemporary world is characterised by a high degree of mobility, making people on the move important political and developmental actors.
- Dr Oliver Bakewell - Reader, Migration Studies
- Prof Tanja Bastia - Professor, International Development
- Prof Uma Kothari - Professor, Migration and Postcolonial Studies
- Prof Tanja Müller - Professor, Political Sociology (group convenor)
Migration, refugees and asylum research group
Global urban futures
The geography of many cities is characterised by inequality, segregation and fragmentation, with concentrations of poverty and wealth in close proximity.
- Dr Nicola Banks - Senior Lecturer, International Development: Urban Development and Global Urbanism
- Dr Tom Gillespie - Lecturer in Global Urban Development and Hallsworth Fellow
- Prof Diana Mitlin - Professor, Global Urbanism
- Dr Maria Rusca - Senior Lecturer in Global Development
- Prof Seth Schindler - Professor, Urban Politics and Development (group convenor)
Global urban futures research group
Growth and distribution
Poverty and inequality are at the heart of the link between growth and distribution and their alleviation depends on effective political and governance mechanisms.
- Dr Lawrence Ado-Kofie - Lecturer, Development Economics
- Dr Upasak Das - Presidential Fellow, Economics of Poverty Reduction
- Prof Ralitza Dimova - Professor, Development Economics
- Prof David Fielding - Professor in Development Economics (group convenor)
- Dr David Lawson - Senior Lecturer, Development Economics and Public Policy
- Dr Osman Ouattara - Reader, Development Economics
- Dr Antonio Savoia - Reader, Development Economics
- Dr Sophie Van Huellen - Senior Lecturer in Development Economics
- Dr Yin-Fang Zhang - Senior Lecturer, Development Economics
Growth and distribution research group
Politics, governance and management
Building more effective and inclusive institutions that can deliver development is one of the most significant challenges in the Global South.
- Prof Samuel Hickey - Professor, Politics and Development (group co-convenor)
- Dr Pritish Behuria - Senior Lecturer in Politics, Governance and Development (group co-convenor)
- Dr Kelechi Ekuma - Lecturer, Governance and Development Leadership
- Mr Ping Gao - Senior Lecturer, Information Systems
- Prof Farhad Hossain - Professor in Development Management and Policy
- Prof Tim Jacoby - Professor
- Dr Nicholas Jepson - Leverhulme ECR Fellow and Lecturer in Global Development
- Dr Tom Lavers - Reader, Politics, Governance and Management
- Prof Aminu Mamman - Professor, Management and International Development (group co-convenor)
- Prof Tanja Müller - Professor, Political Sociology
- Dr Chris Rees - Reader, Human Resources and Organisational Change
- Dr Kate Rowlands - Reader, Human Resource Management
- Dr Rory Stanton - Lecturer, Human Resource Development
Politics, governance and management research group
Global production networks, trade and labour
Global production is undergoing a significant evolution, with more polycentric trade, new technologies, and the challenges of sustainable development.
- Dr Shamel Azmeh - Senior Lecturer in Technology, Labour and Production (group convenor)
- Dr Pritish Behuria - Senior Lecturer in Politics, Governance and Development
- Dr Christopher Foster - Presidential Fellow
- Dr Rory Horner - Reader in Globalisation and Political Economy
- Dr Nicholas Jepson - Leverhulme ECR Fellow and Lecturer in Global Development
- Prof Khalid Nadvi - Professor, International Development
- Dr Sophie Van Huellen - Senior Lecturer in Development Economics
Global production networks, trade and labour research group
Resources, environment and development
Ending extreme poverty and hunger requires a transformation of agricultural production systems and linkages to the rest of the economy.
- Prof Bina Agarwal - Professor, Development Economics and Environment
- Dr Admos Chimhowu - Senior Lecturer
- Dr Charis Enns - Presidential Fellow, Socio-Environmental Systems
- Dr Tomas Frederiksen - Senior Lecturer, International Development
- Dr Tom Lavers - Reader, Politics, Governance and Management
- Dr Johan Oldekop - Reader in Environment and Development (group convenor)
- Dr Rose Pritchard - Presidential Fellow, Socio-Environmental Systems
- Dr Maria Rusca - Senior Lecturer in Global Development