IDPM multidisciplinary research groups
In order to advance theoretical and empirical knowledge in fields central to development theory and policy at the highest international level IDPM pursues research through seven major themes:
- Poverty, Inequality and Well-Being
- The bulk of the work clusters around: poverty dynamics; cross-disciplinary poverty and inequality analysis; the conceptualisation of poverty and well-being; the relationships between growth, inequality and poverty; and power relations and the politics of poverty and poverty reduction. The work of the Brooks World Poverty Institute and the Chronic Poverty Research Centre are central to this group's work.
- Governance, Institutions and Human Security
- Work in this area involves: the roles of civil society in development; NGOs, social movements and their roles in fostering development alternatives; the relationships between economic governance and development; and the relationships between conflict, governance and development dynamics.
- Environment and Development
- Research is rooted in the critical analysis of the relationship of rural livelihoods with sustainable use of natural resources and the political economy of management of natural resources in developing countries. Thematically we have particular strengths in studying the social impacts of conservation, water governance and livelihoods, and the socio-environmental conflicts surrounding extractive industries.
- Social Theory and Development Histories
- Research engages theoretically with core concepts in contemporary social development: the politics of participation; social exclusion; gender and race; social capital and political economy; social networks and the developmental state.
- Enterprise, Technology and Finance
- Research involves macroeconomic policy, privatisation, competition and regulation; enterprise performance and competitiveness covering the impact of policy reforms (trade and industry) and the role of global value chains; technological innovation and policy; and development finance.
- Development Informatics
-
Research includes information and knowledge management; design and implementation of computerised information systems; e-government and e-commerce in developing countries; development of IT organisations and industries; mobile telecommunications development; and ICTs and climate change. The group plays a major part in the University's Centre for Development Informatics (CDI), which researches the role of information systems in developing countries.
- Organisational Change for Development
- Work includes human resource management and development; public management and public sector reform in developing countries; management of change in development settings; management of small and medium enterprises; organisational behaviour; employee and manager attitudes and behaviour and is drawn together through IDPM’s new research Centre for Organisations in Development (COD), established in 2007).
Recently research at IDPM has also clustered around the emergence of a new theme on global urbanisation, reflecting a SED-wide interest in this area and the establishment of the School's Global Urban Research Centre (GURC).