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.
From the tech sector to One World Together: Alumni Interview with Laura Dempsey
How can a postgraduate degree from the Global Development Institute influence your career during a fragile time for the development sector? As part of our drive to gather stories from across our alumni community, we caught up with Laura Dempsey, GDI alumna and Head of Individual Giving at One World Together to discuss her ambitions, career trajectory, and reasons for studying in Manchester back in 2014…
GDI Conference: What is the future for global development?
GDI is hosting a conference asking ‘What is the future for global development?’, which will take place on 13-14 April 2026 in Manchester. Learn more about the conference and the agenda below.
Swapping metrics for shared values: what we learned from piloting a Cooperatives’ Observatory in Chile
By Luis Camilo Oyarzún, PhD student at the Global Development Institute
What does sustainability really mean for cooperatives beyond reports, indicators, and policy frameworks? This question has guided much of my doctoral research at the Global Development Institute, and over the past year it became the starting point for a practical experiment: piloting a Cooperatives’ Observatory of Sustainability with two cooperatives in southern Chile. Thanks to the support of the GDI Innovation Fund, this idea moved from theory to practice and, more importantly, into real cooperative spaces.
Welcoming Professor Tom Goodfellow to Manchester
We’re excited to welcome Professor Tom Goodfellow to The University of Manchester to take up a dual role as Professor of Urban Development at the Global Development Institute (GDI) and CEO of the African Cities Research Consortium (ACRC) – a position he will take over from Diana Mitlin in August this year.
Friends not Foes? Why Development Economics and Development Studies still need each other
By Professor Andy Sumner, Kings College London
In December 2025, GDI hosted the ‘future of development economics’ conference. One question that arose was the relationship between development economics (DE) and development studies (DS). Here’s my two cents.
In this blog I argue four things. First, that DS and the classical DE of Arthur Lewis and others share intellectual roots that are often forgotten. Second, that a rupture emerged in the 1980s/1990s as DE “became too much like economics” and DS developed “anti-economics” sentiment. Third, that many tensions sit within DE or DS themselves rather than between them. Fourth, that revisiting the Q2 mixed methods debates of the 2000s could prove fruitful in deepening the dialogue between DE and DS.