Call for Workshop Contributions: Resilient Amazon Futures: Strengthening Food, Water, Forest, and Land Governance for Sustainable Development
Workshop Title: Resilient Amazon Futures: Strengthening Food, Water, Forest, and Land Governance for Sustainable Development
UK Principal Instructor: José A. Puppim de Oliveira, University of Manchester
Brazil Principal Instructor: Claudio Szlafsztein, Federal University of Pará (UFPA)
Mentors: Maria Julia Ferreira, National Institute of Amazon Research (INPA); Aarti Krishnan, University of Manchester (UoM); João Campos-Silva, Instituto Juruá; John James Loomis, University of Manchester (UoM)
Discipline: Business Studies
Dates and place: 25–29 May 2026, Belem, Brazil
Venue: Federal University of Pará (UFPA)
Deadline for application submission: 31 March 2026 to the email: resilientamazonfutures@gmail.com
Looking for the AI in inclusive AI
by Anuradha Ganapathy, PhD Researcher at the Global Development Institute
Can you write about AI without ever once referring to it?
These were my first thoughts when I came back from the field, learning from and with communities in rural India who were experimenting with a new AI tool. Built on geospatial data and machine learning algorithms, the tool provided data on socio-ecological indicators such as water stress, forest health, soil type, flora fauna biodiversity, etc., to enable communities to develop a shared understanding of their landscape.
What an Urban Lens Can Tell Us About Venezuela
by Dr Erika Garcia Fermin, Honorary Research Fellow at the Global Development Institute
Last week I had a really energising conversation with Tom Goodfellow and Beth Perry on Urban Radar, a podcast by Sheffield Urbanism that discuss current events through the lens of cities and urban life. This time, we talked about Venezuela, and about my city, Caracas. The conversation stayed with me after we wrapped up, so here I am thinking through some of what we discussed, and to clarify a few points that, in hindsight, I’d like to have expressed more clearly.
Communities of Practice: How are different kinds of resilience connected?
On Tuesday, 27th January, we held our final community of practice in a series exploring the role of resilience in maintaining a thriving and impactful development sector. Over the past few months, we’ve been bringing together development practitioners, academics, and students to talk through the difficulties of operating within a development space often troubled by crisis, stagnation, and obstruction. From aid cuts to burnt out workers, there was much to discuss during our one-hour online sessions.
Call for Papers: Services and the Global South: Structural Transformation, Inequality and Development
Call for Workshop Papers
Services have become the dominant source of employment and value added across most low‑ and middle‑income countries. Unlike the historical pattern of agriculture to manufacturing to services, the contemporary trajectory of many countries in the Global South involves a direct transition from agriculture into low‑productivity, often informal, services. At the same time, the prospects for export‑led industrialisation in MICs have weakened, prompting renewed interest in whether service‑led pathways can deliver inclusive, employment‑intensive, and productivity‑enhancing development.
What do GDI academics make of January 2026?
by Louisa Hann
As you’ve probably noticed, 2026 is off to an eventful start – and it’s not promising to slow down any time soon. Donald Trump threatened to invade Greenland, Mark Carney delivered a speech asserting the end of the rules-based international order at the World Economic Forum, and Iran witnessed renewed unrest and the brutal killings of anti-regime protesters. Meanwhile, the ever-present hum of climate breakdown grows louder, with 2025 topping the charts as one of the hottest years on record.
“Beyond Borders, Beyond Books” – Our Cape Town Field Trip Adventure
by Xinyi Zhang
Last year, students enrolled in GDI’s MSc Human Resource Development (International Development) enjoyed a field trip to Cape Town to learn more about putting human resource theories into practice. In this piece, student Xinyi Zhang reflects on lessons learned and demonstrates the vital ways in which field trips can enrich the student experience and equip graduates with the tools they need to hit the ground running after graduation.
Insulation and Inequality: The limits of the Warm Homes Plan
by Jules Buckland, student in PPE
While the Labour government has committed an initial £1.8 billion to its flagship Warm Homes Plan, this policy offers little in the way of transformation, largely expanding upon mechanisms used over the last decade (such as the Energy Company Obligation and Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund). While previous and current efforts to improve the insulation of UK housing stock are often justified by projected health benefits, my analysis of that historical data suggests that without a change in strategy, new funding may fail to deliver in this respect.
Venezuela after Maduro: a country in tense calm
The following blog post by GDI PhD student Mariana Hernández-Montilla recounts her experiences in Venezuela during the recent capture of Nicolás Maduro. Mariana has kindly provided both English and Spanish versions of the piece. Please scroll down to find the Spanish version.
Research for Transformation: Why we need to be intentionally bold and ambitious
by Dr Helen Underhill, Research for Transformation Lab Manager
In November 2025, the Global Development Institute hosted Transformation Lab Week, a series of events and discussions marking the launch of its Research for Transformation Lab. The lab represents a pioneering effort to strengthen links between GDI’s research activities and real-world solutions within the development field. While bridging gaps between academia and impactful practice is complex, Lab Week gave us a valuable opportunity to broach the difficult discussions required to make such ambitions a reality. From the transformative impact of storytelling to unintended consequences of the research impact agenda dominating UK institutions, we covered a broad range of topics and came away with plenty of food for thought.