Violet Barasa is currently pursuing a PhD at the Institute of
Development Studies (IDS) and her research focuses on social and
cultural drivers of zoonotic diseases among Maasai pastoralist groups
in northern Tanzania. Violet's background is in gender and rural
development and her research interests include health, nutrition and
rural livelihoods in developing countries. Prior to joining IDS, Violet
worked at the Consultative Group on International Agricultural
Research (CGIAR), where she was involved in designing and
implementing a gender strategy for the CGIAR centres, aimed at
improving participation and optimising benefits for men and women
smallholder farmers in agricultural value chains.
Christopher Colclough is Emeritus Professor of Education and International Development, and Life Fellow of Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge. He is also an Emeritus Fellow of IDS. Christopher was the founding Director (2002–04) at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) of the Global Monitoring Report Education for All. At Cambridge he was, until 2014, Director of the Centre for Education and International Development. Earlier research, as a Professorial Fellow of IDS, included work on linkages between primary education and economic development; social-sector financing; development theory; and economic adjustment, particularly in Africa.
Evelina Dagnino is affiliated to the University of Campinas, S. Paulo,
Brazil. She has a PhD in Political Science (Stanford University, USA)
and has published extensively on democracy and citizenship, the
relations between culture and politics, social movements, civil society
and participation. She has been a Visiting Professor at Yale University,
Goteborg University, the Latin American Social Sciences Institute
(FLACSO), the National University of General Sarmiento/Institute
of Economic and Social Development (UNGS-IDES), Buenos Aires,
and the University of Costa Rica. Her most recent book is Disputing
Citizenship (Policy Press, 2014) co-authored with John Clarke, Kathleen
Coll and Catherine Neveu.
Michael Edwards is a writer and activist based in upstate New York who has worked for a variety of international non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the World Bank and the Ford Foundation. He is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos, New York and the editor of Transformation, a web-magazine hosted by www.opendemocracy.net. His books include Future Positive: International Cooperation in the 21st Century (Earthscan, 1999), Civil Society (Polity Press, 2004), The Oxford Handbook of Civil Society (Oxford University Press, 2011), Just Another Emperor: The Myths and Realities of Philanthrocapitalism (Young Foundation, 2008) and Small Change: Why Business Won't Save the World (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2010).
Becky Faith is a researcher based in the Digital and Technology research
cluster, IDS. Becky's professional experience and research interests
encompass mobile communication studies, human computer interaction
and technology for social change. Becky has 15 years' experience
working in programme and strategic roles in technology for human
rights, transparency and accountability, and development organisations.
Her PhD research looked at the use of mobile phones by homeless and
unemployed young women in the UK. Becky served as a Director of the
Sussex Community Internet Project and was on the selection committee
for the Young Foundation's first Social Innovation Camp.
Rachel Godfrey-Wood is a researcher specialising in areas relating to social policy, climate change and community politics. She has a PhD from IDS in the wellbeing of older people in the Bolivian Altiplano and has worked as an independent consultant for IDS, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI). She has several years' experience in organising and undertaking qualitative research in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa and India.
Dipak Gyawali is a Pragya (Academician) of the Nepal Academy of
Science and Technology as well as chair of Nepal Water Conservation
Foundation (an NGO) and Interdisciplinary Analysts (a research firm
specialising in quantitative and qualitative surveys). He was trained as a
hydroelectric power engineer at Moscow Energy Institute and in political
economy at the Energy and Resources Group of the University of
California at Berkeley. He was Nepal's Minister of Water Resources in
2002/03 and serves on the advisory board of several national, regional
and international organisations, including the IDS/University of
Sussex Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) STEPS (Social,
Technological and Environmental Pathways to Sustainability) Centre.
Ramy Lotfy Hanna is a doctoral researcher at IDS. His research
interests encompass resource politics, sustainable use of natural
resources, and trans-boundary water governance. His academic
background is economics and international relations, and he has
a master's degree in Environmental Studies from York University,
Toronto. As an economic development researcher and environment
specialist in Egypt and the MENA (Middle East and North Africa)
region he has worked with the African Development Bank (AfDB), the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD),
the former Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and
many United Nations agencies.
Luka Biong Deng Kuol is Associate Professor at the University of Juba, South Sudan and a Global Fellow at the Peace Research Institute, Oslo. He served as a Director of the Centre for Peace and Development Studies at the University of Juba, and was a minister in the Office of the President of Southern Sudan and in the ministry of Cabinet Affairs of Sudan. He has also worked as a senior economist for the World Bank. Luka received his PhD from IDS and earned an MA in Economics from the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.
Melissa Leach is Director of the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex. She founded and directed the ESRC STEPS Centre (www.steps-centre.org) from 2006–14, with its pioneering pathways approach. A geographer and social anthropologist, her interdisciplinary, policy-engaged research in Africa and beyond, links health, environment, technology and gender with particular interests in knowledge, power and the politics of science and policy processes.
Sunita Narain is a Delhi-based environmentalist and author. A graduate of the University of Delhi, she is currently the Director General of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). Sunita plays an active role in policy formulation on issues of environment and development in India and globally. Her work on air pollution, water and waste management, as well as on industrial pollution has led to an understanding of the need for affordable and sustainable solutions in countries such as India where the challenge is to ensure inclusive and sustainable growth. She serves on many national and international committees on the environment.
Pedro Prieto-Martin is a researcher based in the Digital and
Technology research cluster of IDS. His activist-researcher work has
focused on the areas of open government, human-centred design and
digital practices, tools and methods for citizen engagement and social
change. Pedro's academic background includes degrees in computer
science, business administration and sociology. Pedro worked for six
years for Hewlett-Packard in Germany, as Technical Lead of a B2B
platforms development team. Pedro's PhD research looked at municipal
participation, transparency, participatory budgeting and information
and communications technology (ICT) for social change in Brazil,
Guatemala and Spain.
Amrita Saha is a Research Officer at IDS, where she works on pathways to inclusive innovation and structural change. She has a PhD in Economics, University of Sussex. Her previous roles include work on trade policy and global value chains (Commonwealth Secretariat, London). She has also been a Teaching Fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), and associate tutor at the University of Sussex. She has worked as an independent consultant for the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). Her research interests include trade policy, political economy, value chains and innovation.
Michael Thompson is an anthropologist and policy analyst trained at University College London (BSc, PhD) and Oxford (B.Litt). He is currently a senior researcher at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Laxenburg, Austria, and author of many books and articles including Cultural Theory (Westview, 1990) and Organising and Disorganising (Tirarchy, 2008). Michael develops and applies the concept of plural rationality ('cultural theory') to policy issues and technology choices: people doing very different things and yet still behaving rationally, given their different sets of convictions as to how the world is and people are.
Note
* Biographies for contributors to the archive articles are not available.