Alex Shankland is a social scientist with over two decades' experience of working in Brazil, Peru, Angola and Mozambique as a researcher, NGO manager and social development consultant. He has researched, taught and published extensively on rights, participation and policy, particularly in the health sector, and his doctoral thesis was on representation and health policy in the Brazilian Amazon.

His current research interests centre on theories and practices of democratic representation and citizen-state engagement, with particular reference to the political strategies of indigenous peoples and other marginalised minorities engaging with development and climate change policies.

Formerly the Research Manager for the Development Research Centre on Citizenship, Participation and Accountability, Alex joined the Power, Participation and Social Change Team as a Fellow in June 2010. He works on the team’s Unruly Politics and Participation Power and Politics research themes, and is engaged in ongoing research on citizen action, local governance, health system reform and the political economy of climate change in Brazil, Mexico, India, Mozambique and Angola, as well as on the role of Brazil and other emerging powers in reshaping international development. He is the Co-convenor of the IDS Rising Powers in International Development programme, and leads the programme’s work on Brazil and on the international engagements of civil society organisations from the BRICS countries.