"ON CAPABILITY INDICATORS FOR SUSTAINABLE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT" CALL FOR PAPERS

Cambridge has been home to many researchers working on the Capability Approach. In 2016 we launched a new series of annual capability conferences along similar lines as the early capability conferences that we initiated back in 2001. The main objective was to recreate the intimate intellectual atmosphere, in-depth discussions and time for exchanges, having one hour per paper and no parallel sessions. While a wide range of papers were presented in the first conference of June 2016 (CCC1) and the second conference in June 2017 (CCC2), the overall focus in the former was on taking stock of new initiatives in theoretical and practical approaches to capability approach and the latter was on challenges and dilemmas of measuring and using social choice theory framework. The results of the last two conferences were beyond our expectations in terms of academic interaction and outputs and a book with the best papers of the first CCC is being published by Cambridge University Press this summer. The best papers of the second CCC should also be published.

The focus of our third conference will be on the elaboration and use of capability indicators and other human development and sustainability indicators. We have the privilege of having Professor Mozaffar Qizilbash to be the key-note speaker of the third CCC. Professor Qizilbash is no stranger to scholars familiar with the capability approach. His contributions to both philosophical and measurement issues, the challenges of designing surveys to capture indicators of dimensions of freedoms are well-known.

The conference will be hosted by the Centre of Development Studies, University of Cambridge (Alison Richard Building, 7 West Road) during 22-23 June 2018. There will be a conference fee of £15. Abstracts (max 500 words) or full papers (max 8,000 words) to be submitted to ccc2018papers@gmail.com. The selection of the best papers will be carried out by a committee integrated by Dr Flavio Comim, Dr Shailaja Fennell and Dr P B Anand. As with the two previous conferences, preference will be given to original papers exploring issues with capability indicators both in terms of theoretical and practical dimensions but other papers related to the Capability Approach are equally welcome. We intend to publish a book with the best 2018 CCC papers.

Deadline: 23 APRIL 2018.

Please submit papers as email attachment to: ccc2018papers@gmail.com

The Centre of Development Studies held the Capability Conference on 13-14 June. More than 75  Delegates from around the world came to present papers and proceedings will be soon published.  

Dr Terry van Gevelt and colleagues at the Department of Land Economy have published the first study linking 'traditional authority' and current levels of deforestation in Africa in the journal of Land Use Policy.

University of Cambridge Press Release

Link to journal article

MPhil Alumni Sarine Arslanian currently interning in Jakarta at the Centre for Public Policy Transformation (Transformasi} that recently partnered with the New Cities Foundation wrote a blog post for New Cities Foundation in preparation of this year's biggest urban development summit - the New Cities Summit - that will be held in Jakarta in June.

Blog post can be viewed here

http://www.newcitiesfoundation.org/rethinking-urban-planning-in-a-changing-climate-case-study-on-flood-prone-jakarta/

The Inexorable Evolution of Financialisation: Financial Crises in Emerging Markets, Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, December 2015

The book is also part of Macmillan’s finacialisation series where leading experts such as C. Kindleberger, J. Eatwell, T. Palley, A.Gamble, P.Arestis are published and republished.

Since the 2007 financial crisis, discussion on issues related to the size, spread and frequency of financial crises has captivated a wide variety of audiences. Why has the world economy experienced such a marked increase in financial transactions and private and public indebtedness since the 1980s? How have middle-income developing countries suddenly become a part of this dynamic? And, most importantly, how has the topic of financial crises been featured in households' daily discussions in both developed and developing parts of the world? Domna Michailidou addresses the questions above through exploring the inexorable evolution of financialisation into financial crisis through the examination of three middle-income countries: Mexico, Brazil and South Korea. Concentrating on emerging economies, and especially choosing three very different economies that all experienced financial crises in the 1990s, this book explores what lessons can be learnt regarding financial fragility, volatility and failure in the wake of capital market liberalisation.

Domna M. Michailidou works for the OECD Economics Division focusing on the Greek financial crisis. She has a PhD from the Centre for Development Studies in the University of Cambridge, UK, where she lectures and teaches Economic Development at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Currently, Domna is also a research fellow at the Judge Business School's Middle East Research Group and a teaching fellow at UCL's School of Public Policy, UK.
Available from all good booksellers or online at www.palgrave.com
To order in the USA or Canada: T: 888-330-8477
If you are in Australia or New Zealand: E: palgrave@macmillan.com.au
To order in UK or rest of world: T: +44 (0)1256 302866, E: orders@palgrave.

PhD  Nungari Mwangi is the winner of this year’s Andrew E. Rice Award for leadership and innovation by a young Professional in international development. She will receive the award at SID-Washington’s Annual Conference on May 23rd.

The Rice Award (formerly the Truman Award) was established in 2003 by Andrew E. Rice and Robert Berg to honor leadership, innovation, impact, and commitment demonstrated by a young professional in international development. Mr. Rice was a founder and visionary of the Society for International Development, building it into a major global network. He also established the first newsletter and journal on international development, and helped initiate a number of development initiatives, including the U.S. Peace Corps.

More information can be found by clicking here. 

Rural electrification and development in South Korea (1965 - 1979) in Energy for Sustainable Development

You will be pleased to know that we have moved up from 8 in 2015 to 6 this year in the QS world ranking for Development Studies.

This is a remarkable result and a great tribute to the tremendous efforts of the whole team of teachers and administrators.

It's a fantastic result!

Professor Peter Nolan

We are delighted and proud to see that the Centre has gone from no.8 (2015) to no.6 (2016) to no.4 (2017) in the field of Development Studies in the QS Survey. This would not have been possible without the dedication and hard work from everyone within the Centre.

To see the ratings please click here.

Together with colleagues in Kenya, Cambodia and Australia, Dr. Sophie Chapman has recently published 2 articles in a special issue of the Carbon and Climate Law Review (CCLR).  The articles address key issues regarding the implementation of an international climate change policy called “REDD+” at the national level (“REDD+” stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries).  The citations of the articles are:

1)       Sophie Chapman, Martijn Wilder, Ilona Millar and Arjuna Dibley, “Implementing REDD+ Under the UNFCCC: Basic Requirements and Guidance for Developing National Policy and Legal Frameworks” 2 Carbon and Climate Law Review (2015)

2)       Sophie Chapman et al., “A Legal Perspective of Carbon Rights and Benefit Sharing under REDD+: A Conceptual Framework and Examples from Cambodia and Kenya” 2 Carbon and Climate Law Review (2015)

Publisher:  Lexxion  (http://cclr.lexxion.eu/issue/CCLR/2015/2)

In addition to her position as an affiliated lecturer in Centre of Development Studies, from 1st October 2012 Dr Alexandra Winkels will be working part-time for four years as the Institute Teaching Officer and Academic Director in Development Studies for the Cambridge University Institute for Continuing Education at Madingley Hall. As part of this position she will also be the Course Director for the Undergraduate Certificate in International Development.

 https://www.linkedin.com/groups/Official-Cambridge-Centre-Development-Studies-8321794/about

Our official LinkedIn Alumni Group is up and running. Follow the link above to become part of our Alumni Group and send us your news to display on our Website. 

The students and staff at The Centre of Development Studies had the pleasure of having coffee and a chat with Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen when he visited the Centre in May 2015

On Friday, 4 May the Alison Richard Building was formally opened by Professor Dame Alison Richard DBE.

Professor Barry Rider has been honoured with the award of an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list, for services to the Prevention of Economic Crime.

Brian Eno has a new album out. How best to explain it? By hooking up with radical economist Ha-Joon Chang to debate everything from finance to free jazz and dogs in parks. Caspar Llewellyn Smith joins in.

‘Let’s find a place in between’ … Eno and Chang in conversation. Photograph: Martin Godwin for the Guardian

Read More....

MPhil students from the Centre have recently launched a new journal of development studies, the Cambridge Journal of Development Issues. The journal is supported by the Centre and gives students and associates of the Centre a exciting opportunity to see their work in print. The first issue can be found here.

The Central Asian Spring Festival Navroz took place on 11 March 2015 at the Cambridge Guildhall. It was organized by the Cambridge Central Asia Forum and the Centre of Development Studies together with the Cambridge University Kazakh Society, Cambridge University Uzbek Society and Cambridge University Azerbaijan Society. Official representatives from the different Central Asian countries also attended and supported the event. This was a wonderful chance to discover the different cultures of Central Asia, traditional costumes, dance, music and samples of regional food. One of our PhD students, Serik took part with his wife in the re-enactment of a traditional Kazakh bridal ceremony. Bolashak programme interns and many of our students were involved in organising and making this event a success.

Adaptation, Poverty and Development: The Dynamics of Subjective Well-Being Edited by David Alexander Clark

With a Foreword by David Hulme

ISBN 9780230360563
Palgrave Macmillan
April 2012

In contrast to previous attempts to examine adaptation to climate change in developing countries, the authors focus on how individuals and broader social groups adjust their aspirations, mental states, social values and behaviour and practices in response to changes in their personal and social circumstances. Employing a unique blend of cross disciplinary work from economics, psychology, sociology and philosophy this innovative book draws on quantitative and qualitative techniques. The book is divided into three parts that deal with conceptual issues, empirical studies and specific topics (gender, disability, migration) relating to adaptation in developing countries. It includes detailed case studies of adaptation in China, Ethiopia, India and South Africa and underlines the case for listening to the poor by suggesting that people who become worse off are less likely to lower their aspirations – or restrict their values – than is commonly thought by some philosophers and social scientists.

Content Information

Available from:

Palgrave Macmillan
Amazon

We are pleased to announce that Dr Fennell has been appointed as High Level Track Facilitator at the World Summit on the Information Society Forum.

The main role of the HLTFs is to moderate high level policy sessions and provide written executive summaries based on interventions and discussion during the session, while capturing the vision, identifying emerging trends, opportunities and challenges shared by the high level speakers.

Congratulations to Dr Fennell who has been awarded a student-led CUSU teaching award, in the supervisor category. She will receive the award on 5th May.

Now in their third year, the CUSU Student-Led Teaching Awards are a unique opportunity for students to recognise the exceptional contribution those who teach and support them have made to their education. The Awards are organised by CUSU, and any student at Cambridge is able to nominate. The judging of the Awards is carried out by a panel of students. 

This is a student initiative of current Harvard undergraduates and brings together 450 of the brightest young minds across India to create a tradition of research-focussed policy making in India. 

The list of speakers and topics can be found at

http://www.harvardindiainitiative.com/#!speakers/c187m

On Wednesday 8 July Dr Fennell gave a well received talk to the Global Food Security Initiative. More information about the programme can be found here. A podcast of the talk will be shortly available on the Global Food Security Initiative. 

Global Food Security Initiative

Dr Ksenia Gerasimova has published an article entitled "The Importance of Sustainable Environmental Management in Central Asia: Old Legacy and New Challenges" In the Journal: Cambridge Central Asia Reviews, 2014, Vol. 1, Issue 1, pp. 27–42

Publisher: Cambridge Scientific Publishers

Dr Shailaja Fennell has been awarded a major contract as the Principal Investigator on a Department for International Development commissioned series of research studies on Activity Based Learning (ABL) in India. The studies will look closely at not just what children learn, but how they learn. This includes gaining understanding of the "black box" of classroom pedagogy and the teaching-learning process. There will also be an assessment of the influence of tools by which teachers, schools and governments have measured what children know and can do. The studies will help to enrich understanding of Activity Based learning and shed important light on the process of large-scale education reform. The lessons, including how to measure impact, will be useful not just within India, but equally beyond its borders. This is particularly relevant given that adaptations of Activity Based Learning model are currently being implemented in 14 states across India and several countries including Ghana, Nepal and Ethiopia.

Dr Maryam Tanwir has a new publication in Africa's Public Service Delivery and Performance Review: Tanwir, M and Chaudhry, A (2015). The performance evaluation system in Pakistan's civil service. Africa's public service delivery and performance review journal. Volume 3 (2) June 2015. http://www.apsdpr.co.za/APSDPR_VOL_3-2_JUNE_2015.pdf

Dr Terry van Gevelt, Dr Tayyab Safdar and colleagues have published a study on 'energy poverty' in rural Rwanda in the journal Energy for Sustainable Development.

Dr van Gewelt et al. used primary data collected from 163 households in an off-grid Rwandan village to provide insights into energy poverty at the household-level. Informed by the rural livelihoods literature, they constructed a novel asset- and income-based index to disaggregate their results by socio-economic status. They also employed microeconometric techniques to investigate the determinants of household willingness-to-pay for electricity. Dr van Gewelt et al. found statistically significant differences between households of different socio-economic status for expenditure on lighting and other electricity services, willingness-to-pay for electricity, income-generating activities and food security. Overall, their findings suggest that initiatives aiming to end energy poverty and catalyze rural development should: (1) recognize the different potential impacts of policies on households of different socio-economic status; (2) be sensitive to energy stacking behavior; (3) take a holistic approach to rural development; (4) and ensure that households are able to access modern energy through flexible payment schemes and equitable and sustained improvements in income.

As Head of Department at POLIS I wish to express my profound shock and sadness at the death of our student Giulio Regeni.  Our very deepest sympathy goes out to Giulio’s family and his many friends.

On Friday, following consultation with the Mistress of Girton, Giulio’s college, I wrote to the Egyptian Consul General in London to convey our sense of shock and to ask to be kept informed of the progress of the investigation into the circumstances of Giulio’s death, as a matter of urgency.  The text of this letter is published at the end of the page.  Our request has been acknowledged and we will pursue this and any other means to try to discover the truth behind this appalling event.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University, the Mistress of Girton and the Head of the Centre of Development Studies have all been in contact with Giulio’s family to offer our deepest condolences.  Events have been held in the Department and in Girton to remember Giulio and to mourn for his loss.  We will be discussing with Giulio’s college and his friends how we can best commemorate his life and work in due course.  

David Runciman

Head of Department

Obituary

Giulio Regeni, who was found dead in Cairo, Egypt on 3rd February, was a highly promising young scholar of social and economic development in the Middle East. Giulio came to the University of Cambridge in 2011, after previously obtaining a first class degree for his BA in Arabic and Politics at the University of Leeds. In Cambridge, he studied for a master’s degree in Development Studies. His academic results were excellent, and he was awarded a high pass in completing the degree. His time on this MPhil also fostered his academic interests in the Middle East, and took him on to applying for professional postings in the region. He ended up in Cairo, working for the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, where he furthered his keen interests in the labour sector, economic change and governance in a country that was undergoing significant political changes.

Wanting to develop these interests more systematically, and after a year working for the international consulting firm Oxford Analytica, Giulio came back to Cambridge in 2014. He returned to the Centre of Development Studies at the Department of Politics and International Studies to study for a PhD, with the aim of pursuing an academic career. Inspired by work on how trade unions organised in pre-2011 Egypt, Giulio sought to understand how the labour sector was changing in the country, in the context of economic globalisation and greater international institutional linkages. After completing the first year of the PhD in Cambridge, he arranged to spend part of the year 2015-16 as a visiting scholar at the American University in Cairo.

Giulio was passionate about his research. He was always receptive to new ideas and approaches, but his work remained driven by a sense of justice. Giulio was enthusiastic also about communicating his knowledge to a wider audience. He signed up to teach a course on the comparative politics of the Middle East to undergraduate students, intending initially to return to Cambridge from Egypt in early January 2016 to begin teaching. But with research and conversations in Cairo progressing well, he postponed his intended return until March. He was last seen alive on 25th January, travelling by metro in central Cairo, on his way to visit friends. He was 28 years old at the time.

Glen Rangwala

Memories of Giulio

Giulio was my PhD buddy. A fellow lover of Egypt, social justice, and human dignity. On Friday the 5th of February, a few days after Giulio's body had been found, I went to a ceremony for him at Girton College. Every chair in the room was occupied. We were all invited to light a candle and share a few memories. It soon became clear that none of us could. One candle after the other was lit in complete silence. Never before have I been at a ceremony where people were all too struck by someone's death to say a single word. So consider this one of my memories. You were so loved that nobody was able to sing your praises. Nothing that could have been put in words would have done you justice. And nothing that we could have said would have been able to express the absolute terror we feel of having lost you in the way we did. How such kindness could have met such cruelty is simply beyond words. Sometimes, silence rings the loudest.

Giulio was one of the first PhD students in development studies to introduce himself to me during my MPhil, to take a genuine interest in my work, and to make me feel like I was a part of the department. Despite him not knowing me very well, he went out of his way to make it a welcoming environment, and I am grateful for that. He will be missed, in the department and beyond.

Giulio thank you for your courage, your curiosity and the powerful gift you have left us in our memories and your work. You just have left such an incredible, inspirational path behind you. It's so difficult to find the right words but I wanted to say thank you, somehow, for your engagement with my research too. Thanks for staying to chat, for sharing ideas (and our common heroes!) Your writing brings deep respect to the daily, exhausting and vital work of people whose efforts are barely recognised elsewhere. To the personal relations, the everyday indignation and stubborn perseverance in the efforts to build a better world. You documented hope, even where it is so hard to see, especially now. Not hope in the abstract sense, but a hope that takes strength and commitment. There just are so many more things to talk about, so many paths left to explore. But instead all I can say is that all of us who knew you - and all those others who will know you in your work and in your memory - will try our best to keep struggling for that kind of just, compassionate world that you fought for. Giulio, rest in deep peace, but we will keep fighting with you.

Nessuno potrà spegnere i sogni , la curiosità per la vita , l'amore per le pagine della storia , l'impegno civile e sociale, il desiderio di dare un significato alla propria vita, costruendo un percorso dedicato a tutti. Una preghiera per Giulio.

Giulio was passionate and committed researcher, a person with a sense of humour, and a good friend. I met Giulio in the French course offered by CULP. After realizing that we were from the same department, we became friends. Since we were based in the ARB building, we often went for coffee or lunch, or took a short break from writing by having a casual or ‘academic’ conversation in the green sofa area and exchanging ideas. He enjoyed analysing development issues, conflicts (or post-conflict situations), Europe, and many other societal problems. We also talked and argued about casual and study-related issues. As a person looking for solutions to problems, Giulio was one of those people who sought to contribute to making the world a better place.

Giulio was in my eyes unrivalled in his intellectual curiosity amongst our peers. It is with huge admiration that I remember him determinately and resolutely asking for feedback from all of us amongst the PhD students whenever he gave a presentation or simply voiced an idea in conversation. The reason he would do this more than the rest of us was because he wanted to be meticulous in his work and understanding, to ensure that he was not making errors, and quite simply because he was so evidently instilled with an insatiable yearning to understand the world around him. He has set a fine example for the rest of us, and I will forever try to be as brave and determined as he was. 

Touching on the above theme, I will never forget Giulio's idealism and genuine desire to see the world become a better place. He inspired me in this regard - talking about the Green Party, the election of Jeremy Corbyn, the like. You could see in his eyes the excitement at the thought of a society becoming fairer, and again a kind of steely belief that things really good be better. 

These qualities are endlessly admirable, yet they are not the things I will miss most about Giulio. At the end of the day it is always the personal that counts. Giulio was exceptionally positive and friendly, keen to make all people feel happy and comfortable. Anecdotally, the caring patience that he showed when speaking to various visiting fellows whose English was not strong was sincerely amazing, and it was emblematic of the kind of person that he was. The kind of person who would take the time to be friendly to everyone. 

It is a wrenchingly heartbreaking injustice that Giulio has been killed. He was an exceptional person, and I, like all of our mutual friends, will miss him immensely. He is an inspiration to all those who want to do good.

You know how researchers specialising in a particular field/ area sometimes feign interest in studies that lie outside of our zone of interest? Giulio never did that. He was one of those rare scholars - genuinely curious with insatiable thirst for knowledge. He was sincerely interested in the research of everyone in his department (including mine which was based on education in India – far from his research interest!). Sitting in our department and discussing my thesis, with him asking me questions out of genuine interest, helped me in my research because his questions and ideas always made me think and improve. 

His intellectual capability and profound passion for knowledge and research was unmatched. No wonder he became such an international citizen with affiliations to some of the best global educational institutions like United World College, University of Cambridge, and American University in Cairo. He was fluent in four languages – English, Spanish, Arabic and Italian: a quality I was always envious of. His passion for Middle Eastern studies and his love for Egypt were as infectious as his bright smile. 

The goodness in him was not limited to his superior scholarly capability. He was also an extremely kind and compassionate person. We were both assistants to late Professor Ajit Singh (who had suffered from Parkinson’s disease), and I clearly remember how actively Giulio would be by Prof Singh’s side whenever needed. My last conversation with Giulio was regarding Prof Singh’s birthday gift, and Giulio had great plans for a celebration. Unfortunately, Prof Singh passed away before we could bring Giulio’s vision for his birthday to life. 

Giulio was a good person, colleague, researcher and friend. It was a privilege knowing him. I thank him today for showing sincere interest in my research and helping me with my work, for always being kind to all of us, for showing us the true definition of courage, and for teaching us the valuable lessons of tolerance and fearless pursuit of knowledge and truth. He will be missed dearly.

Letter to Egyptian Consul General

5th February 2016

Dear Mr. Youssef,

It is with huge sadness that I have learnt of the loss of one of our PhD students, Giulio Regeni.

Giulio was on a field study trip in Cairo, contributing towards his doctoral work on the Egyptian economy. He was found dead in the capital on 3 February 2016.

We take the welfare of our students very seriously.  It is hard for Giulio’s family and for us to comprehend how such a talented student could meet his death in the Egyptian capital as he carried out his important academic research.  We note that the Italian authorities have urged you to conduct a thorough investigation with the participation of Italian experts and we, too, call on you to conduct a thorough and complete investigation into this tragic incident.  

I would like to be kept informed of the progress of the investigation.

Yours sincerely,

Professor David Runciman

Ha-Joon Chang has been voted no. 9 in the Prospect World Thinkers 2014 poll. The full information is at:

http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/world-thinkers-2014-the-results/#.U1jjaSjmIfZ

Ha-Joon Chang has been voted the third most influential economist in the Prospect World Thinkers 2013 poll (overall rank 18), after Paul Krugman (overall rank 5) and Amartya Sen (overall rank 7). The full information is at:

http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/world-thinkers-2013/

Dr Jasdeep Sandhu met Dr Michael Kuczynksi at High Table, Pembroke College and Dr Alexandra Winkels at the Centre of Development Studies, University of Cambridge.

The Cambridge Central Asia Forum, Centre of Development Studies, University of Cambridge, in collaboration with the Cambridge University Uzbekistan Society and the Cambridge University Kazakhstan Society has, for the 12th year in a row, organised the spring festival, Navroz. This festival, celebrated by the countries of Central Asia, Eurasia, the Middle East and beyond on the occasion of the coming of Spring and the New Year was held in the ancient Chapel of Jesus College in the University of Cambridge. The event was sponsored by Jesus College, the Embassies to the UK of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan, and was also supported by the Embassy of Turkmenistan in London. This year the cultural program proudly included traditional dancing and musical performances from the countries of Uzbekistan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. The event was attended by colleagues and students from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom government officials and members of the public from Cambridge, London and from across the United Kingdom. It was attended by close to 400 people. The cultural program was followed by food from the region provided generously by the Embassies of Uzbekistan and the Kyrgyz Republic.

Book info link:

(Science, Policy and Politics of Modern Agricultural System)
http://www.springer.com/environment/soil+science/book/978-94-007-7956-3
Forthcoming book link - http://routledge-ny.com/books/details/9780415729703/

Members of the Central Asia Forum had a busy year taking part in various projects in India and Kazakhstan. Their activities have been documented in main newspapers. Please find below links to the press coverage.

Business Standard

Financial Express

News Headline

Tengrinews

Peter Nolan Book Launch

Available at Amazon

PhD STUDENT SERIK ORAZGALIYEV RECEIVES ABTA 2016 DOCTORAL RESEARCHER AWARD

Our Ph.D. student Serik Orazgaliyev has received an award in recognition of academic excellence at ABTA 2016 Doctoral Researcher Awards in the category of Management & Social Sciences.

ABTA Doctoral Researcher Awards is an annual event organised by the Association of British Turkish Academics (ABTA). It is designed to promote and reward academic and scientific excellence among young researchers pursuing doctoral degrees in the UK. The award recognises doctoral students for conducting outstanding research and evaluates both the student’s general research experience and specific completed research papers. The research independence of the applicant, as well as the novelty and implications of research conducted, were used for assessment purposes.

At the award ceremony, which took place on 14 May 2016 at University College London (UCL), Serik received an honourable mention award for his paper that introduces a model of bargaining relationships between petroleum industry multinationals and host governments in developing countries.

This year ABTA received applications from over 200 doctoral students from 56 universities across the United Kingdom. In the final stage, shortlisted candidates presented their research through oral presentations and at the poster exhibition, assessed by the panel of judges composed of academics from UK universities.

Serik Orazgaliyev is a final year PhD student at the Centre of Development Studies, University of Cambridge. He is the recipient of a Bolashak scholarship from the government of Kazakhstan. Serik’s PhD research focuses on studying the political economy of petroleum resource management in the Caspian region and relations between the host government and multinational enterprises in Kazakhstan. Serik is supervised by Dr.Siddharth Saxena and Dr.Shailaja Fennell.    

Here are details of the newly published article by PhD student Spencer Thompson:

Link: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213297X15000038

Title: "Towards a social theory of the firm: Worker cooperatives reconsidered"

Abstract: "This paper argues that the predominant economic theories of the firm neglect the importance of cooperation based on trust and loyalty, and that as a result, their criticisms of worker cooperatives are incomplete. While competence-based theories tend to focus exclusively on coordination and thus fail to acknowledge that the development and application of productive knowledge also involves cooperation, contract-based theories cling to a rigid model of behaviour that does not account for the type of cooperation thus involved. Thus, although contract-based theories denigrate cooperatives for failing to achieve cooperation, cooperatives may in fact be more propitiously situated than conventional firms to achieve the cooperation involved in the development and application of productive knowledge. Meanwhile, although competence-based theories imply that cooperatives are incapable of achieving coordination, cooperatives may in fact be more propitiously situated than conventional firms to achieve coordination without incurring potentially adverse effects on cooperation. This ability, however, may be suppressed by a hostile institutional environment, which biases both the options available to individuals and the way they perceive those options against cooperatives. Although inter-cooperative associations can alleviate this institutional bias, they involve structural and cultural obstacles of their own."

Professor Barry Rider OBE (1976), Fellow Commoner and Professor of Law, has been awarded the Order of Honour (First Class) by the Government of the Republic of China. The Gold Cluster in the Division of Justice has only been awarded on three previous occasions. The citation states this honour is bestowed by order of the President of the Republic of China for Professor Rider’s “outstanding achievement in promoting international cooperation on combating transnational crime”. President Ma Ying-jeou acknowledged Professor Rider’s unique contribution in promoting cooperation in law and justice.

In July 2016 CDS researchers will launch an annual collaborative research workshop in Kigali, Rwanda, with colleagues from the University of Rwanda. Covering topics from Gender to Law in Development, the workshop will also be open to up to 50 students from the University of Rwanda. This initiative is funded by the Gatsby Foundation, and has developed from Jane Lichtenstein’s long-standing links with Rwanda and the work there supported by the Gatsby Foundation. Dr Shailaja Fennell, Jolly Dusabe (Cambridge Rwanda scholar), Christine van Hooft, Dr Sophie Chapman and Jane Lichtenstein will make up the team from CDS.

Dr. Fennell has been awarded a £200,000 contract as the Principal investigator on a DFID commissioned series of research studies on Activity Based Learning (ABL) in India. The studies will look closely at not just what children learn, but how they learn. This includes gaining a better understanding of the ‘black box’ of classroom pedagogy and the teaching-learning process. There will also be an assessment of the influence of tools by which teachers, schools and governments have measured what children know and can do.

The studies will help to enrich our understanding of ABL and shed important light on the process of large-scale education reform. The lessons, including how to measure impact, will be useful not just within India, but equally beyond its borders. This is particularly relevant given that adaptations of the ABL model are currently being implemented in 14 States across India and several countries including Ghana, Nepal and Ethiopia.

The Centre of Development Studies and the World Bank Institute jointly organised a colloquium on 'Examining Evidence of Institutional Change on Poverty Reduction'

The focus of the colloquium was on how governments and donors, who spend billions each year on designing and implementing interventions, can create favourable institutional conditions for poverty reduction. The remit of the colloquium was to regard institutional change along both the supply and demand sides of the provision of goods and services, where the supply side focus has been on the efficiency of provision and the effectiveness of organisational delivery, while demand side looks to improve stakeholder ownership through strengthening voice and accountability mechanisms.

The presentations and discussions were located around the consequences of not having clear evidence of the impact of such interventions. The colloquium focussed on how current indicators of institutional changes could work better to improve the lives of the poor and how to better facilitate these institutional changes at an expedited rate to more quickly achieve poverty eradication.

Shailaja Fennell's comments on evidence based policy

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Dr Shailaja Fennell, is a member of successful Smart Villages team, led by Sir Brian Heap and based at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford in the UK. The Smart Villages initiative (running over 2016-19) has been granted the sum of £3 million, jointly funded by Cambridge Malaysian Education and Development Trust (CMEDT) and the Templeton World Charity Foundation. The initiative aims to provide policy makers, donors and development agencies concerned with rural energy access with new insights on the real barriers to energy access in villages in developing countries – technological, financial, social and political – and how they can be overcome. The focus on the initiative is on remote off-grid villages, where local solutions (home- or institution-based systems, and mini-grids) are both more realistic and cheaper than national grid extension. The initiative will cover Latin America, Asia and Africa and will organise two major international workshops in each region. These events will bring together the diverse set of players from across the region, providing an open and stimulating environment conducive to generating new insights into how to tackle the challenges of village energy access for development. 

To know more about the initiative see http://e4sv.org/

Dr Sophie Chapman has just published an article about Kenyan climate change law and sustainable development in the Carbon and Climate Law Review.

Together with colleagues at the Kenyatta University School of Law (KUSOL), law firm Anjarwalla and Khanna and the Queensland Institute of Technology (QUT), Dr Chapman discusses how legal frameworks influence benefit sharing for REDD+ finance in Kenya.

Citation details: Sophie Chapman, Rowena Maguire, Mona Doshi,
Caroline Wanjiku Kago, Nelly Kamunde-Aquino, Leah Kiguatha, Elizabeth
Dooley and Gretchen Engbring, "The Elements of Benefit-sharing for REDD+
in Kenya: A Legal Perspective" 2015(4) Carbon and Climate Law Review
pp.283-297 [Publisher: Lexxion]

Read Tayyab Safdar's in depth article here.

Dr Shailaja Fennell at the Centre of Development Studies was awarded funding for a collaborative research initiative with the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras. The project will aim to understand how bottlenecks that limit Internet access for rural agricultural production and community based tourism can be removed.

The UKIERI awards are part of the largest ever education initiative between the the United Kingdom and India, and to date has committed over £25 million since its inception in 2006. The awards aim to strengthen engagement between institutions in the two countries by directly supporting research as well as by promoting two-way mobility for students, post-docs, and faculty.