In this episode, GDI students Max Slater, Rosie Rochester, and Armando Caroca Fernandez interview Dr Noam Leshem (Durham University) about his new book, Edges of Care: Living and Dying in No Man's Land (The University of Chicago Press). They discuss the notion of no man's land as a site of radical uncaring, exploring the political dynamics of state abandonment in a range of conflict zones such as Palestine, Syria, and Sudan. Find out more about GDI Students for Palestine here and check out the C...
Jun 19, 2025•42 min
PhD Researcher Anuradha Ganapathy interviews Payal Arora , Professor of Inclusive AI Cultures at Utrecht University and co-founder of two initiatives, Inclusive AI Lab for Debiasing Tech and Fem Lab . The pair discuss Payal's recent book, From Pessimism to Promise: Lessons from the Global South on Designing Inclusive Tech (MIT Press), digging into the role of academia in discussing Big Tech, the positive potential in technologies such as AI, especially in the Global South, and how to bridge the ...
Apr 29, 2025•54 min
Brought to you by the combined voices of the African Cities Research Consortium and the Global Urban Futures and Environment Policy and Planning research groups, this episode features Dr Taibat Lawanson. Taibat is an associate professor of urban planning at the University of Lagos and a Leverhulme Professor at the University of Liverpool. In this episode, she explores the past and the future of urban spaces and how essential heritage is to urban planning. Lean more about Taibat Lawanson here . F...
Apr 08, 2025•34 min
In this episode, GDI's Senior Lecturer Saumik Paul discusses the recently published United Nations Development Programme report on the Multidimensional Poverty Index, ' Poverty Amid Conflict ', with Yanchun Zhang, one of the report's authors. Find out more about the Global Development Institute: Website Blog BlueSky LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters...
Mar 25, 2025•27 min
GDI students Ellen Logan and Alex Pettifer interview Dr Nadia Naser-Najjab (University of Exeter), covering the discipline of Palestine Studies, how Israel-Palestine can advance our understanding of broader issues surrounding decolonisation, and how people can enrich their understanding of Palestinian histories. Details of resources mentioned in the episode are accessible on our blog: https://blog.gdi.manchester.ac.uk/recommended-resources-on-palestine-and-decolonisation/ Read more about Nadia's...
Mar 20, 2025•54 min
In this episode, GDI's very own Tekle Weldemichel discusses his recent paper, ' Tigray war: Modern geographies of mass violence and the invisibilization of populations '. The paper critically examines the strategies and tactics employed by the Ethiopian government and its allies to sustain a “zone of invisibility” around the Tigray war. Read the paper here: Tigray war: Modern geographies of mass violence and the invisibilization of populations - ScienceDirect Tekle recently joined GDI as Lecture...
Mar 17, 2025•43 min
In this episode brought to you by the Sustainable Forest Transitions Project , research associate Lucas Alencar speaks with anthropologist Amy Penfield and ecologist Filipe França from the University of Bristol. Lucas, Amy and Filipe discuss the roles anthropology, ecology and other disciplines can play in conservation both in isolation and in collaboration with one another to build policy, networks and action. Find out more about the Global Development Institute: Website Blog BlueSky LinkedIn F...
Feb 25, 2025•47 min
Towards the end of 2024, GDI's Professor Uma Kothari delivered a lecture titled 'Decoloniality: Beyond a Metaphor'. We're fortunate enough to have recorded the lecture, in which Uma discusses how metaphor can inhibit attempts to decolonise our societies and institutions, as well as the role of material reparations in addressing past and present injustices. Listen to it here. Find out more about the Global Development Institute: Website Blog BlueSky LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Newsletter Intro mu...
Feb 11, 2025•38 min
Chaired by Professor Nicola Banks and Selim Iyirdirli, this episode brings to you a lecture discussion between Deborah Doane, author of ‘The INGO Problem: Power, Privilege and Renewal’, and Nana Asantewa Afadzinu, Executive Director of the West Africa Civil Society Institute. In the episode, Deborah, Niki, and Nana discuss current challenges within the aid sector, how Southern NGOs are leading calls for structural change in global development, and whether International NGOs are rising to the cha...
Oct 11, 2024•35 min
In this episode, GDI's Armando Caroca and Rose Pritchard speak with Joan Martínez-Alier, an economist and emeritus professor of economics and senior researcher at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona . Throughout his career, Joan has made important contributions to ecological economics and political ecology in his work on environmentalism of the poor. In this episode, we discuss Joan's new book: 'Land, Water, Air, and Freedom: The Making of a World Movement for Environmental Justice' which can ...
Jun 03, 2024•46 min
In this episode, GDI PhD researcher Anna Thurlbeck speaks with Dr Portia Roelofs , lecturer in politics at Kings College London. Dr Roelofs provides an unmissable deep dive into the background and key themes of her new book ' Good Governance in Nigeria : Rethinking Accountability and Transparency in the Twenty-First Century'. Listen now! ---- Dr Roelofs has degrees from Oxford, SOAS and LSE. She has held post-doctoral fellowships at the LSE and St Anne’s College, Oxford. She has been a visiting ...
May 23, 2024•1 hr
In this episode, PhD researcher Mariana C. Hernandez-Montilla continues a new series of podcasts linked to the GDI's Sustainable Forest Transitions project. Mariana chats to Dr Pooja Choksi , Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Minnesota and co-founder of Project Dhvani , about her work monitoring the impacts of ecological restoration, including the use of passive acoustic monitoring to track vocalizing species in Indian landscapes. Music I Use: Bensound.com/free-music-for-videos License...
May 16, 2024•39 min
In this episode, One World Together's co-founder Nicola Banks and Community Space Development Lead Asma Bham speak with one of their community partners: Lwanga Bwalya of Play it Forward Zambia. Lwanga dives into the complexities of navigating projects within the current funding system, as well as his own experiences with community-led initiatives both as a young person and now as a leading member of Play it Forward. Niki, Asma, and Lwanga then explore how we can rethink the system with new model...
Apr 18, 2024•52 min
Following the launch of the Sustainable Forest Transitions project at Manchester Museum on the 6th March 2024, we bring you a new episode featuring the event's opening remarks and the incredible panel discussion that took place. In this episode, you will hear from Kieran Dodds, Polyanna da Conceição Bispo, Felipe Melo, Adithya Pradeep and Rose Pritchard, with host and project lead Johan Oldekop guiding the discussion. If you want to follow the project or learn more, you can do so here. Find out ...
Apr 09, 2024•52 min
Oliver Bakewell, Impact Director at GDI, discusses migration practices along the Ethiopia-Sudan border with Kiya Gezahegne , an ethnographic researcher from the University of Addis Ababa. Kiya and Oliver have worked together on multiple projects exploring local migration realities and policy effects. In this episode, they draw interesting observations by setting Ethiopian and European contexts side by side. Have a listen to their conversation to learn more! About Kiya Gezahegne: Kiya Gezahegne i...
Apr 02, 2024•46 min
In this episode, PhD researcher Sandy Nofyanza kicks off a new series of podcasts linked to the GDI's Sustainable Forest Transitions project. Sandy chats to Dr Sreeja Jaiswal , Humboldt Foundation’s International Climate Protection Postdoc Fellow at the University of Heidelberg, about challenges associated with forest restoration efforts and debates surrounding mitigation measures such as carbon offsets. Music I Use: Bensound.com/free-music-for-videos License code: QVPSSG18TYB4DVRS Find out more...
Feb 12, 2024•32 min
In this episode, Francisco V. Ayala discusses his new book, Cash Transfers for Poverty Reduction: An International Operational Guide (Routledge, 2023), co-authored with GDI’s David Lawson . The book offers the first systematic discussion of the design and implementation of cash transfer programmes, including practical guidance for students and key stakeholders who are – or will be – responsible for designing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating such programmes. Francisco is an international...
Jan 15, 2024•38 min
Selim Iyidirli hosts a conversation around One World Together and its model for Global Citizenship with Jon Alexander , author of Citizens: How the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us, and Nicola Banks and Chibwe Masabo Henry, Co-Founders and Chief Stewards of One World Together . Have a listen, and then come and join their wave of change! More about Jon Alexander Jon Alexander began his career with success in advertising, winning the prestigious Big Creative Idea of the Year before making a d...
Dec 14, 2023•28 min
The division of the world into ‘developing’ and ‘developed’ countries has grown increasingly problematic in the past decades. Nonetheless, it remains embedded in legal documents, foreign policy discourse, and colloquial use. In this lecture, Dr Deborah explores this complexity by unpacking the different ways in which the ‘developing’ label is used in the international system, arguing that understanding the complexity around its use requires a rigorous analysis of the label’s diverse meanings and...
Oct 25, 2023•38 min
This episode comes from the African Cities Research Centre , based at the Global Development Institute. Urban reform coalitions can play a critical role in building inclusive, sustainable and productive cities. Made up of diverse stakeholders who collaborate to achieve common goals, these coalitions can work to strengthen relationships between disadvantaged groups and influential state/non-state actors. This collective action can be powerful in challenging socioeconomic inequality and enabling m...
Sep 29, 2023•52 min
The latest episode of our podcast brings together Sam Hickey, President of the Development Studies Association UK, Heloise Weber, President of the Development Studies Association Australia and special guest Winnie Mitullah from IDS, University of Nairobi. The three discuss the relevance of development studies in the current climate. Sam Hickey is President of the Development Studies Association UK. He is Head of the Global Development Institute, Professor of Politics and Development and Deputy C...
Jun 29, 2023•59 min
In this episode Elisa Gambino is joined by Kathy Dodworth. They discuss Kathy’s new book, Legitimation as Political Practice , her transition from working at an NGO to academia and the idea of the non-state Dr Kathy Dodworth is a Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Edinburgh's Centre for African Studies. Her current fellowship critically re-examines contemporary community health work in Kenya. She recently published her book Legitimation as Political Practice: Crafting Everyd...
Jun 21, 2023•33 min
People in South Sudan have experienced decades of forced displacement and cross-border mobility, resulting in families split across the country and neighbouring Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda. According to the United Nations as of 2021, more than four million South Sudanese citizens were displaced either internally or internationally. Samuel Hall in collaboration with Research and Evidence Facility (REF) explored the experiences of displacement, return, and reintegration among South Sudanese ...
Jun 12, 2023•45 min
In this episode Tanja Müller talks to Lisa Ann Richey about her career and her recent book, Batman Saves the Congo : How Celebrities Disrupt the Politics of Development. Lisa Ann Richey is Professor of Globalisation and Development Studies at the Department of Management, Society and Communication Copenhagen Business School. Her research looks at values and international politics of humanitarianism. More about Lisa Ann Richey Batman Saves the Congo: How Celebrities Disrupt the Politics of Develo...
May 10, 2023•26 min
In this episode Tom Goodfellow and Pritish Behuria discuss Tom's career and his new book, Politics and the Urban Frontier: Transformation and Divergence in Late Urbanizing East Africa. Despite the rise of global technocratic ideals of city-making, cities around the world are not merging into indistinguishable duplicates of one another. In fact, as the world urbanizes, urban formations remain diverse in their socioeconomic and spatial characteristics, with varying potential to foster economic dev...
Feb 27, 2023•53 min
This episode comes from the African Cities Research Consortium podcast. Diana Mitlin talks to Ezana Haddis Weldeghebrael about her new paper on how reform coalitions can contribute to inclusive equitable urban change in the global South, her experiences of working with coalitions in Africa and Asia, the future of the urban reform agenda in African cities, and an upcoming conference being organised by ACRC. Diana Mitlin is CEO of the African Cities Research Consortium and professor of global urba...
Feb 13, 2023•48 min
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. Cha...
Dec 19, 2022•29 min
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 an...
Nov 04, 2022•41 min
Development studies often focuses on the negative: constraints, challenges, negative impacts, etc. But what if we could use new digital datasets to identify positive deviants: outlier individuals, households, districts and others that outperform their peers in achievement of development goals? In this episode, Basma Albanna and Richard Heeks discuss the “Data-Powered Positive Deviance” (DPPD) programme. The programme built on an original idea by GDI researcher, Basma Albanna, that was fleshed ou...
Oct 24, 2022•24 min
In this episode, Stefano Ponte talks to Aarti Krishnan about his research into sustainability, the wine and seafood value chains in South Africa and his recent book Business, Power and Sustainability in a World of Global Value Chains Dr Stefano Ponte is a Professor of International Political Economy at Copenhagen Business School. His research looks at transnational economic and environmental governance, with a focus on overlaps and tensions between private authority and public regulation. Dr Aar...
Sep 29, 2022•34 min
