Protecting cities in a changing climate – Interview with José Antonio Puppim De Oliveira
Ever wondered how the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) generates its influential – often headline-making – climate reports? We caught up with José Antonio Puppim De Oliveira, GDI’s Professor of Climate Change Governance and Global Development, to discuss his participation in creating the IPCC’s upcoming Special Report on Climate Change and Cities. Having attended some of the initial report meetings, José reflects on the rigorous process and what the report could mean for policymakers and others working to protect cities around the world as climate change intensifies.
Trump’s Tariffs: Is This the End of Globalisation and Global Value Chains?
Khalid Nadvi, Professor of International Development, Global Development Institute, University of Manchester
5 April 2025
As financial markets across the world continue to reel from the tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on April 2nd – so-called ‘Liberation Day’ – questions arise if this is the end of the era of globalisation and of global value chains? And, more particularly, who are the winners and losers from this process? In this brief note, I will argue that global value chains are far from dead, but they will be radically restructured because of this process. In terms of winners and losers, while it is hard to assess accurately who is most affected, many least developed countries are especially badly hit, with significant consequences for poverty.
Photo Competition – The Migrant Body: Embodied Experiences and Bodily Strategies in South-South Migration
Funded by the University of Manchester Hallsworth Fund and the British Academy Conference Fund
Deadline for Photo Submission: 30th June, 2025
As migrants traverse borders, their bodies become sites of agency, struggle and transformation. Gendered norms surrounding female and male bodies shape the embodied, everyday experiences of migrants at every stage of the migration cycle. Yet much of what we know about migration focuses on the movement of people from the Global South to the Global North, obscuring the experiences of those migrating within the Global South. This call for photographs aims to present new visual materials from countries of origin, transit and destination in the Global South. Photos will shed light on the gendered and racialized bodily strategies of migrants and their families as they encounter, resist and transform embodied manifestations of power and discrimination before, during and after their migration journeys.
Climate Crimes and Human Rights: What Role for Courts?
by Yusra Suedi (Law) & Clare Cummings (Global Development Institute), Climate & Justice Study Group
Between small island states formally requesting the International Criminal Court to recognise ecocide as a crime, 2000 Swiss women suing Switzerland for climate harm before the European Court of Human Rights and the United Nations debating the establishment of a special rapporteur on climate justice, it’s been a busy time for climate justice. In fact, practice would suggest that there has never been more momentum for climate justice through human rights and criminal legal systems, domestic and international.
Recommended resources on Palestine and decolonisation
By Ellen Logan, MSc in Global Development
In March 2025, my colleague Alex Pettifer and I interviewed Nadia Naser-Najjab, Director of Palestine Studies at Exeter University and a leading scholar in Palestine Studies.
MSc Management and Implementation of Development Projects (MIDP) Students’ Memorable Day Trip to Buxton
By Dr Nafisatu Irene Okhade, MSc MIDP Programme Director
Students from the MSc Management and Implementation of Development Projects (MIDP) programme recently took part in a day trip to Buxton, where they had an opportunity to explore the Poole’s Cavern and Pavilion Gardens. The purpose of the trip was to foster students’ sense of belonging, encourage meaningful interactions and build community, providing a space for informal discussions and exploration outside the traditional classroom setting. The trip was wholly funded by the Student Experience Fund.
What can be said and when does censorship start? Reflections on the role of art in claiming freedom in Israel and Palestine
I want to share a story about the complex reality of Israel-Palestine – a timely occasion given the recent publication of a blog by the GDI Students for Palestine group. Many years ago, I was involved in a research project that engaged with Eritrean asylum seekers in Tel Aviv, and have since maintained multiple connections to academics and civil society networks engaging with topics of migration, refugees and asylum. Some of those associates are about to publish an edited volume called Home in the Making: Arts of Asylum Seekers in Israel. One of the editors had asked me for a foreword, which I wrote, as promised, last December, and was initially thankfully received. So far, so good. However, I was recently told, with some pain by said editor, that the other members of the editorial team did not want my text published, and as this was an inclusive process, it would not appear.
On Brian Eno, joy, gratitude and recognition
In the following blog reposted from One World Together, the team discuss the exciting news of a grant from Brian Eno and Hannah Eno on behalf of their new foundation Coral.
Why women hold the key to a more sustainable agricultural future
By Rabiatu Adamu Saleh
Palestine and Global Development
By the GDI Students for Palestine group