Career navigation and preparation as an international student in the UK
Xinyue Zhao explores her journey navigating CVs, job interviews, and career aspirations as one of GDI’s employability champions.
This blog is part of a series by our Employability Champions, helping to prepare graduates for life after study. Read our piece by Raju Sarkar discussing the challenges and opportunities associated with finding a development sector job in India here, or read Vinka Maharani’s tips on navigating your career journey as an international student returning home here.
Student voices: championing career success in GDI
Shirley Jenner, GDI employability lead (2019-2024), reports on a recent employability initiative where international postgraduate taught (PGT) students worked to strengthen career support provision in the Global Development Institute. The project was designed to explore two over-arching questions:
What career aspirations do our students bring when they come to study at the University of Manchester? How can students fulfil those dreams?
Perspective, clarity and belonging: GDI PhDs in the Lake District
Anifat Ibrahim, a PhD candidate at the Global Development Institute, and Krishna Das, a PhD candidate at the Department of Geography, reflect on how a well-timed group trip to Brathay in the Lake District earlier in the year rejuvenated their spirits, strengthened their connections with colleagues, and made them happier researchers.
Simplifying economic complexity
How does a country’s ability to produce and export cutting-edge technologies affect its growth potential? What are some of the most promising industries for countries looking to secure long-term growth? In our latest blog post, PhD researcher Isaac López-Moreno Flores reports on the meaning of ‘economic complexity’ and its increasing prevalence as a concept within economic literature.
For some readers, the concept of “Economic Complexity” might initially seem like an advanced and challenging topic in the field of economics. The goal of this blog entry is that the reader can understand the concept of economic complexity easily. I will explain what economic complexity entails, how it is measured, and why it is a relevant research area. Furthermore, I will present examples of topics related to economic complexity not yet widely considered in the literature but would be interesting to explore in the future.
Unity in Diversity: Rethinking Binaries in Development Studies
By Hamid Khalafallah, PhD Researcher at GDI
Ahead of the Development Studies Association (DSA) 2024 conference, I attended a workshop organised by the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI) in collaboration with the DSA and co-sponsored by the University of Manchester’s Global Development Institute (GDI) and King’s College London (KCL). The workshop, entitled “Unity in Diversity”, provided a space for development scholars from the UK and beyond to reflect on and rethink the purpose and trajectory of development studies.
Calling all development practitioners! Join our Flexible Learning Pilot and boost your resilience
As many development practitioners will attest, we’re living through turbulent times. Faced with growing political unrest, dwindling budgets, and a general sense of burnout, development work can feel like an uphill battle at times.
To tackle this problem, Natalie Cunningham, Senior Lecturer at GDI, is launching a new Flexible Learning Pilot titled “Developing Resilience in Turbulent Times”. Designed for busy lifelong learners (i.e., working practitioners keen to develop their skills), the course will be available online and allow participants to work through material in their own time. By the end of the course, learners will be equipped to better manage their own resilience, develop stronger professional relationships that can withstand intense pressure, and appreciate some of the systemic issues impacting individual and organisational resilience.
Checklist for Digital-Transformation-for-Development (DX4D) Research
The checklist below derives from the Principles for DX4D Research and Consulting, modified on the basis of presentation to an international development audience, and a revision workshop of digital development researchers.
It is intended for use by researchers undertaking DX4D research, to help improve the fit of that research with the particular nature of digital transformation for development:
Call for Papers: Structural Transformation and Contemporary Late Development
A 70th Anniversary workshop at the Global Development Institute (The University of Manchester) engaging with the relevance of Arthur Lewis’ (1954) work today.
December 5-6, 2024, Manchester, UK.
With support from The University of Manchester’s Global Development Institute Journal of Development Studies Conference Fund and European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI) Politics and Political Economy Research Group.
How to get your CV ready for the development job hunt
Employability champion Uzdah Jawaid shares her top tips on how to craft the perfect CV for post-graduate job hunting in the development sector.
This blog is part of a series by our Employability Champions, helping to prepare graduates for life after study. Read our piece by Raju Sarkar discussing the challenges and opportunities associated with finding a development sector job in India here, or read Vinka Maharani’s tips on navigating your career journey as an international student returning home here.
Analysis of urban reform coalitions awarded best 2024 paper by Area Development and Policy
Professor Diana Mitlin, CEO of the African Cities Research Consortium, has been awarded the best paper of 2024 by Area Development and Policy for The contribution of reform coalitions to inclusion and equity: lessons from urban social movements.