Through multidisciplinary research and policy engagement we bring new understanding and action on critical issues around health and health systems, and how they overlap with other systems such as food, as well as nutrition, sanitation, epidemics and zoonotic diseases. Enhancing understanding of how to ensure healthy lives for all is a vital part of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Agenda 2030) and has been an integral focus of IDS’ work since its inception.
Our research and analysis on innovations in health services and systems – including work on identifying effective strategies to address the challenges of antimicrobial resistance – is accelerating progress towards achieving universal health coverage in Asia and Africa. Our work on nutrition spans the spectrum from dietary transition and globalisation of food systems, through to responding to the ways that marginalisation and inequity drive high child malnutrition rates. We bring vital social knowledge to aid effective preparedness and response on pandemics. We show how direct impacts on the spread of diseases such as Ebola can be achieved by bringing learning from research on social issues and contexts to the right people in the right organisations at the right time. Together with our global partners, we are generating and sharing new knowledge and evidence to identify the underlying causes of poor health and social inequalities, and the progressive policies and practices that can help bring about transformative change.
In this special event to mark the culmination of Melissa Leach’s tenure as Director of IDS, a panel of experts will debate the future of development and development studies, offering their thoughts on where development has come in the last 10 years and crucially, where it might be...
Advocacy for public accountability aims to produce reactions from government officials or service providers. But it is not always clear to advocates how to interpret diverse government reactions and decide on next steps. This panel will share and reflect on a framework to help achieve this,...
At IDS we are passionate about our rich legacy of participatory methods, and we believe that PAR is more important than ever in the current context of complex and polarising challenges.
It is a methodology that brings different perspectives into dialogue, helps to identify systemic issues and...
Rachna Vyas came to IDS in September 2023 to study MA Governance, Development & Public Policy. She shares how she was supported to set up a space for other first-generation learners (students whose parents did not attend university), and the difference this has made to her time at IDS.
Before...
Rachna Vyas, IDS student, MA Governance, Development & Public Policy
As part of a research project focusing on the territories of North and South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, artists and researchers came together to discuss their understandings of the notions of humanitarian and civilian protection, and gender-based violence. This book presents...
Climate change is perhaps the greatest challenge facing humanity, set to reverse the gains made in human development. Yet policy discussions are too often reduced to physical impacts and technical or economic fixes. In the process, root causes and wider development priorities are often...
Many IDS members, including my colleagues from the Food Equity Centre, are participating in G20 and T20 processes – running alongside the G20. IDS is a member of the International Advisory Council and is participating actively with leadership roles within task forces, as well as through policy...
The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) has ‘made substantial progress with the merger that created it’ but its ‘development capacity has reduced’ and improvements are still required in areas such as culture change, finds a new National Audit Office (NAO) report...
In the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic and its associated massive upheaval, what enabled research findings to influence policy in real-time? What kind of funding and partnership model could support the rapid generation of evidence such as the research that informed the South Africa National AIDS...
We are thrilled to host the launch for the book Smugglers and States, with an introduction by its author Max Gallien, followed by a drinks reception.
Watch now
https://youtu.be/0FWfe5rBxhw?si=2lOkA3QZMkb_xGrs&t=86
Smuggling is typically thought of as furtive and hidden, taking place under...
This paper reviews the existing literature and related debates on gender and tax in lower income countries. It identifies knowledge gaps, and maps broader issues that are relevant for understanding the gendered impact of taxation.
Linking short-term relief and long-term sustainable development has long been an important policy ambition. Yet too often, humanitarian responses in the face of disasters become detached from building and strengthening livelihood systems. How can this disconnection be solved in...
In an extraordinary time of challenge and change, we use more than 50 years of expertise to transform development approaches that create more equitable and sustainable futures. The work you do with us will help make progressive change towards universal development; to build and connect solidarities for collective action, locally and globally. The University of Sussex has been ranked 1st in the world for Development Studies for the past five years (QS World University Rankings by Subject).