MPhil in Development Studies

The MPhil in Development Studies is a one year, full-time highly inter-disciplinary course which gives its students a firm grounding in political economics relevant to the developing world, including the study of sociology, law, political science, management, economics and anthropology.

The inter-disciplinary approach is based on the recognition that together with the analytical rigour required of economists and other social scientists today, no important issue in development — poverty and inequality, population growth, the construction of the institutions of a market economy, war and human rights, democratisation — can be properly understood without an inter-disciplinary perspective.

The Course Director for 2025-26 is Dr Marthe Achtnich. 

General information applicable to all current postgraduate students within the Department of Politics and International Studies, which includes the Centre of Development Studies, can be found here. 

Dissertation

All students will write a 15-20,000 word supervised dissertation. The dissertation provides the opportunity to investigate a subject of your own choice in detail. Dissertations are submitted in Easter term. The dissertation is a mandatory component of the MPhil in Development Studies.

Incoming students with questions about the dissertation should contact the Centre Administrator on admin@devstudies.cam.ac.uk.