Institute of Development Studies

Biography

Professor Robert Chambers is has a background in biology, history and public administration. His current concerns and interests include professionalism, power, the personal dimension in development, participatory methodologies, teaching and learning with large numbers, agriculture and science, Seasonality Revisited, and community-led total sanitation.

Selected Projects and Recent Work

• Going to Scale? The Potential of Community-Led Total Sanitation
• Immersions for Aid Practitioners
• Participation and Development Relations

Thematic Expertise

Agriculture; Learning for Social Change; Participation Methodologies; Power and Empowerment; Poverty.

Geographic Expertise

Central and South Asia; Sub Saharan Africa.

Selected Publications »»

• Chambers, R (2010) 'Paradigms, Poverty and Adaptive Pluralism', IDS Research Summary of IDS Working Paper 344, Brighton: IDS
• Chambers, R. (2010) 'Paradigms, Poverty and Adaptive Pluralism', IDS Working Paper 344, Brighton: IDS
• Bongartz, P. and Chambers, R. (2009) 'Beyond Subsidies – Triggering a Revolution in Rural Sanitation', IDS InFocus Policy Briefing 10, Brighton: IDS
• Chambers, R. (2009) 'Who Counts? The Quiet Revolution of Participation and Numbers', IDS Research Summary of IDS Working Paper 296, Brighton: IDS
• Hossain, N. with Bishop, K., Chambers, R., Carroll, K., Eyben, R., Jolly, R., Melamed, C and Sabates-Wheeler, R. (2009) 'Towards a New Social Justice Agenda: understanding Political responses to crises', IDS InFocus Policy Briefing 11.5, Brighton: IDS
• Kar, K., Chambers, R. (2009) Handbook on Community-Led Total Sanitation, IDS
• Chambers, R. (2009) 'Going to Scale with Community-Led Total Sanitation: Reflections on Experience, Issues and Ways Forward', IDS Practice Paper 2009.1, Brighton: IDS
• Chambers, R (2009) 'Going to Scale with Community-Led Total Sanitation: Reflections on Experience, Issues and Ways Forward (Research Summary)' RSPP1, Brighton:
• Chambers, R (2008) Revolutions in Development Inquiry, London: Earthscan
• Chambers, R. (2007) 'Who Counts? The Quiet Revolution of Participation and Numbers', IDS Working Paper 296, Brighton: IDS
• Chambers, R. (2007) 'From PRA to PLA to Pluralism: Practice and Theory', IDS Working Paper 286, Brighton: IDS
• Chambers, R. (2007) 'Poverty Research: Methodologies, Mindsets and Multidimensionality', IDS Working Paper 293, Brighton: IDS
• Chambers, R (2007) 'Out of the Closet, Into the Open: Professionalism, Power and the Personal in Development', World Review of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development 4.4:385-394, Inderscience
• Chambers, R. (2006) 'Poverty Unperceived: Traps, Biases and Agenda', IDS Working Paper 270, Brighton: IDS
• Chambers, R., Cornwall, A., Gaventa, J., Musoki, S. and Pettit, J. (2005) 'Participatory Learning and Action: Critical Relections: Future Directions'