Opinion

Opinion

Military drivers of critical minerals extraction: impacts on development and sustainability

A growing concern today is that the acceleration of the so-called ‘twin transition’ — green and digital — is dramatically increasing global demand for critical minerals (CMs). In response to this increasingly recognised challenge, several research agendas have emerged. A central...

Phil Johnstone

Anabel Marín

4 July 2025

Opinion

More than a £ sign: The multifarious value of international students

In May 2025, Keir Starmer held a press conference to launch an Immigration White Paper, stating that without stricter immigration rules, the UK risks becoming an ‘island of strangers’. This White Paper – aspects of which are already being implemented – proposes, among other things,...

Linda Waldman

4 July 2025

Student Opinion

Feminised labour, masculinised visas: Who really belongs in the UK?

The UK government’s 2025 Immigration White Paper titled ‘Restoring Control over the Immigration System’ proposes sweeping changes to the Skilled Worker (SW) visa route, raising salary thresholds (currently £38,700), removing discounts for shortage occupations, closing the social care visa...

Antea Gomes, MA Gender and Development, Class of 2022/23

& 3 others

3 July 2025

Opinion

Special issue: where do skills reside in agriculture?

Where do skills reside? Do they dwell in people, in practices, in technologies? The question might seem abstract, but it helps us to think shrewdly about how changing skills can respond to new challenges and opportunities. Skills are fundamentally about agency; they express what a...

Dominic Glover

James Sumberg

2 July 2025

Opinion

Reflecting on ‘success’ in smallholder farming in Zimbabwe

This blog offers a compilation of blogs published over the past weeks, which have offered a reflection on how local people understand ‘success’ and its changes over time especially in the period since the 2000 land reform. We have worked in a diversity of A1 smallholder land reform and...

Ian Scoones

1 July 2025

Opinion

Consea back in operation again

One of President Lula’s early acts as President of Brazil for the third time was to reinstate the national food and nutrition security council, after the previous President Jair Bolsonaro had dismantled it in 2019. Earlier this month, I was at the inaugural meeting for this council,...

Renato Maluf

25 June 2025

Opinion

Financing for social protection in 2025 and beyond: anyone any clearer?

Six months after the USAID cuts tilted the aid world on its axis, donors and agencies are still finding their feet. Humanitarians are emerging from last week’s Geneva meetings – with talk of ‘cruel math’ of hyper-prioritisation and of resetting the system. Meanwhile, development folk are...

Sophia Swithern

24 June 2025

Opinion

The power of communities during civic space closure in Central America

Lea la versión en español de esta opinión. Every time a community organises, learns, and cares for its members, it is exercising power. That power doesn’t always make the headlines, but it is still there. We see it when someone speaks out, when one person defends another against...

Rocío Elizabeth Ramírez Argueta, Oficial de programas y proyectos, COMCAVIS TRANS

& 3 others

24 June 2025

Opinion

El poder de las comunidades frente al cierre del espacio cívico en Centroamérica

Read the English version of this opinion. Cada vez que una comunidad se organiza, aprende y cuida de los suyos, está ejerciendo poder. Ese poder no siempre aparece en los titulares, pero allí está. Lo vemos cuando una persona alza la voz, cuando alguien defiende a otra frente a la...

Rocío Elizabeth Ramírez Argueta, Oficial de programas y proyectos, COMCAVIS TRANS

& 3 others

24 June 2025

Opinion

What does ‘success’ look like in Zimbabwe’s communal areas, and how does this compare with land reform areas?

The previous blog series explored ‘success’ in A1 areas across our sites in Mazowe, Gutu, Masvingo and Matobo districts. How does this compare with local perceptions of success in communal areas? This is an important question as most people in A1 areas came originally from communal areas....

Ian Scoones

23 June 2025

Opinion

Shaping the future of AI: The role of non-binding agreements

The UK Government set out in January 2025 a ‘blueprint to turbocharge’ AI use. But the principles that guide international and state actors’ use of artificial intelligence (AI) have – and continue to be – at the centre of global conversations. International organisations and...

Kaitlin Ball

23 June 2025

Opinion

What children teach us about belonging on World Refugee Day

World Refugee Day reminds us of the staggering numbers: according to UNHCR estimates, 49 million of those forcibly displaced were children, which includes roughly 19 million children registered as refugees or asylum seekers. But what if we shifted focus - not just to how many children are...

Dr Rosalind Willi

20 June 2025

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Showing 1–12 of 2268 results

Military drivers of critical minerals extraction: impacts on development and sustainability

More than a £ sign: The multifarious value of international students

Feminised labour, masculinised visas: Who really belongs in the UK?

Antea Gomes, MA Gender and Development, Class of 2022/23

Special issue: where do skills reside in agriculture?

Reflecting on ‘success’ in smallholder farming in Zimbabwe

Consea back in operation again

Financing for social protection in 2025 and beyond: anyone any clearer?

The power of communities during civic space closure in Central America

Rocío Elizabeth Ramírez Argueta, Oficial de programas y proyectos, COMCAVIS TRANS

El poder de las comunidades frente al cierre del espacio cívico en Centroamérica

Rocío Elizabeth Ramírez Argueta, Oficial de programas y proyectos, COMCAVIS TRANS

What does ‘success’ look like in Zimbabwe’s communal areas, and how does this compare with land reform areas?

Shaping the future of AI: The role of non-binding agreements

What children teach us about belonging on World Refugee Day

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