Institute of Development Studies

Biography

Danny Burns is Team Leader of the Participation, Power and Social Change team at IDS. Between 2002 and 2010 he was Professor of Social & Organisational Learning at the University of the West of England (UWE).  At UWE, he co-directed the SOLAR action research centre. Prior to this he was a lecturer, then senior lecturer, at the School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol.  There he was Programme Director of the M.Sc. in Management Development and Social Responsibility.  Previously, Danny worked as the Director of the Tenant Participation Advisory Service for Scotland and prior to that as Director of the Decentralisation Research and Information Centre.  Over the past eight years he has directed or co-directed more than fifteen action research projects.

Currently, Danny is leading a major action research programme for the National Co-ordination Centre for Public Engagement in Higher Education and is advising on the design and implementation of a learning architecture to support a UN Habitate capacity development programme.  He is advisor to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's Change in Action programme (previously Unheard Voices).  Danny has also been working closely with the Berghoff Foundation for Peace Support in Berlin on systemic approaches to conflict transformation.

Danny's interests include participatory methods, systemic action research, community development and community action, the significance of complexity and systems thinking to development and systemic conflict transformation.

Selected Projects and Recent Work

• The Governance of Service Delivery
• Academic Partnership in Support of Teaching Development Aid Curriculum in Russia

Thematic Expertise

Participation.

Selected Publications »»

• Burns, D. (2012) 'Action Research for Development and Social Change', IDS Bulletin 43.3, Brighton: IDS