
DSA Call for papers: Development Studies Association conference 28–30 June 2023
Academics from the Global Development Institute are helping to convene a number of panels at the annual Development Studies Association conference taking place on 28–30 June 2023. The theme of the conference is Crisis in the Anthropocene: Rethinking connection and agency for development.
The annual conference will be hybrid (in-person and online combined) to ensure the highest levels of inclusion, flexibility and engagement.
There is a call for papers for all panels at the DSA Conference, for more information on all the panels visit the DSA website. The deadline for submitting papers is 10 February.
For full details of each session and to propose a paper, click on the title. read more…

Podcast: Community-led planning and transformation with Charity Mumbi and Jane Wairutu
This episode comes from the African Cities Research Consortium podcast.
“It’s not our data as SDI, it’s not ACRC data, it’s not their data. It’s the community’s data. So you have to have that understanding that, at the end of the day, it has to benefit the community.”
In this episode, Miriam Maina talks to Charity Mumbi and Jane Wairutu from SDI-Kenya about community-led mapping and data collection, participatory planning processes, and the role of research in inclusive urban transformation.
Charity Mumbi is an urban and regional planner and a project officer at SDI-Kenya, supporting community-led planning, research and data management activities.
Jane Wairutu is a sociologist and programme manager at SDI-Kenya, working closely with data and project implementation teams.
Miriam Maina is from Nairobi and is a postdoctoral research fellow at the African Cities Research Consortium, working on the housing domain.
The African Cities Research Consortium is a major six-year investment by FCDO to fund new, operationally-relevant research to address intractable development challenges in African cities.

MSc HRM Enhancement Programme: Learning from industry partners including the European Commission
The MSc Human Resource Management Enhancement Programme (HRMEP) has been developed over seven years, with support at school and faculty level, to offer closer student engagement with a wide range of organisational contexts in the field of HR practice, with a focus on the professional, cultural and social dimensions of their experience. read more…

MSc HRM Enhancement Programme: Learning from industry partners
The MSc Human Resource Management Enhancement Programme (HRMEP) has been developed over seven years, with support from Heads of school and faculty, to offer closer student engagement with a wide range of organisational contexts in the field of HR practice, with a focus on the professional, cultural and social dimensions of their experience. HRMEP aims to equip learners with a robust theoretical framework for careers in human resource management and at the same time to provide students with an opportunity to gain insights into practice-focused human resource practices across a wide range of management contexts and sectors. read more…

Call for Papers: Africa Journal of Management
Towards understanding the African entrepreneurs and their cultural context: Economic rationality and African value system. read more…

Inflation: how financial speculation is making the global food price crisis worse
Sophie van Huellen, Global Development Institute, The University of Manchester
UK households, like those in many other countries, are struggling to make ends meet. More than half of households have only £2.66 per week left after paying for bills and essentials, according to figures from the supermarket chain Asda.
The extreme spikes in the cost of energy and food that we have seen this year are mostly to blame for this shift. Basic grocery prices have increased by 17% on average from last year, according to the Office for National Statistics, while some products such as pasta have increased by as much as 60%. This is because the cost of staple food crops, such as wheat, have increased by more than 30% since the beginning of 2021. read more…

‘One nation in two countries’ and anything in between: Transnational lived citizenship and the complex answers to the question ‘where do I belong?’
Tanja Müller, Professor of Political Sociology, Global Development Institute
Reflections from the first emerging findings workshop of the ESRC-funded project: Transnational lived citizenship: practices of citizenship as political belonging among emerging diasporas in the Horn of Africa, held in Khartoum, 9-10 November 2022. read more…

Global Development Institute Merit Awards
The Global Development Institute Merit Awards provide three full scholarships for academically excellent professionals studying a GDI campus-based master’s course commencing in September 2023. The scholarship covers tuition fees, living expenses, flights to the UK, and visa costs.
The Global Development Institute is where critical thinking meets social justice. Researchers at the Global Development Institute are addressing some of the biggest challenges the world faces, from inequality and the politics of development to globalisation. We strive to address specific problems and make an impact in the real world. Cutting-edge insights from our research are incorporated in our postgraduate teaching and many of our 10,000 alumni become development leaders. For the last 60 years, The University of Manchester has been at the forefront of Development Studies and The Global Development Institute continues to drive forward new ideas promoting sustainable development and social justice for all.
For the next academic year we’re able to offer three fully funded scholarships for resident citizens of Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia or Uganda and have not previously studied outside Africa. read more…

In Conversation: Amani Abou-Zeid
In the latest Global Development Institute podcast Amani Abou-Zeid, African Union Commissioner in charge of infrastructure, energy and ICT, talks to Seth Schindler about energy security and infrastructural development in Africa.
Ahead of COP27 in Egypt, they reflect on Africa’s energy “evolution” in relation to climate change, why integration is key to bridging the continent’s infrastructure gap, the impact of rising interest rates on foreign and local investment, and the regional innovation and cooperation that has emerged in response to multiple crises, including Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine.

Call for papers: The Politics of Development Studies Conference
DSA Politics and Political Economy Study Group
Sponsored by the Journal of Development Studies Conference fund and The Development Studies Association
Organised by Pritish Behuria (Manchester) and Tom Goodfellow (Sheffield)
Development studies – as a field – has been the subject of consistent criticism from neighbouring disciplines (political science, geography, economics and anthropology) and other interdisciplinary fields (global studies, international relations, urban studies). Not unlike other disciplines, development studies was rooted in colonial experiences. Fundamentally, the task of development studies was to understand the future trajectories of post-colonial societies. Given its close association with foreign aid-led development and particularly, the Truman project, this has made it an easy target for critics. However, it must be noted that this version of development studies is just one interpretation of the past of development studies and ignores other potentially more progressive versions like Bandung-oriented development studies (Mkandawire, 2011; Helleiner, 2014). Sumner (2022) goes further, highlighting four distinct ‘development studies’ that are currently envisioned by scholars working in the field. Development studies has also been criticised for lacking a specific canon or being too inter-disciplinary in an era where other social sciences (political science, economics) have become increasingly narrow and mathematised. read more…