Person

Peter Taylor is the Director at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS). Previously he was Director, Strategic Development, at the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Ottawa, Canada where he was responsible for leading IDRC’s strategic planning processes.

During his ten years with IDRC, he also served as Acting Director of IDRC’s Inclusive Economies Program Area, and as Associate Director for the Think Tank Initiative, a ten-year, multi-partner programme that supports strengthening of policy research organizations in Africa, South Asia and Latin America. Peter has more than 30 years of experience in international development. He also worked at IDS as a Research Fellow, Head of Graduate Studies, and Leader of the Participation, Power and Social Change Team; as Education Technical Advisor with the Swiss NGO Helvetas in Vietnam; as Lecturer in Agricultural Education at the Agricultural Extension and Rural Development Department at the University of Reading, UK; and as Head of the agriculture department in a rural secondary school in northern Botswana. Peter holds a PhD and MSc in agricultural education, and a BSc degree in animal sciences. He has research, teaching and writing interests in the theory and practice of organizational development and capacity strengthening, evaluation and learning, and facilitation of participatory and social change processes in a diverse range of international contexts.

External roles

  • Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
  • Member of Council, Development Studies Association (DSA)
  • Member of International Scientific Advisory Board, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
  • Member of Advisory Council, Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN)
  • Member of Prolinnova Oversight Group
  • Member of International Equitable Partnerships Champions Group, Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
Google Scholar
https://bit.ly/36fBEIN

Research

Project

Covid-19 Learning, Evidence and Research Programme in Bangladesh (CLEAR)

The Covid-19 Learning, Evidence and Research Programme in Bangladesh (CLEAR) is a 2.5 year FCDO-funded programme to support an evidence-informed Covid-19 response and recovery in Bangladesh. The pandemic has disrupted production in agriculture, industry and the informal sector- creating a new...

Opinions

Opinion

Development spending cuts will hit women and girls

This year’s International Women’s Day has just passed, with UN Women calling for rights, equality and empowerment for all women and girls.  However, this task has just got much harder after the drastic cuts made to international development budgets by the US, UK and the Netherlands in the...

10 March 2025

Opinion

The turbulence and the toll of the USAID freeze

The election of President Donald Trump has ushered in a sharp turn of direction for the US government in its domestic and international engagement. Since his inauguration on 20 January, President Trump has been quick to enact policy change, including freezing all international development...

3 February 2025

Opinion

Supporting African think tanks makes sense – and why more support is needed

Policy making is a messy business. While rationality and certainty are often viewed as desirable traits, the reality is that policy processes in the vast majority of contexts involve multiple actors, and are highly contested, volatile, uncertain, and complex. Policy-making is a political...

Maria Alejandra Ormeño Oviedo, IDS Student, MA in Governance, Development, and Public Policy

13 November 2024

Publications

Report

Covid Collective Learning Report

This report provides an overview on the Covid Collective research platform, how it was operationalised, and the learning which emerged from the three-year programme. The foundation of the Covid Collective’s theory of change was the network and relationships that were established and developed...

Joe Taylor
Joe Taylor & 2 others

12 March 2024

Peter Taylor’s recent work

News

Call for stories: A more equitable future of research

Southern Voice and IDS are thrilled to invite you to participate in sharing stories and strategies to rebalance power in the knowledge ecosystem. Your stories and strategies will be a source of inspiration, mutual learning, and the basis for strategizing a long-term action and research...

5 July 2024

Past Event

Foreign Aid and its unintended consequences: seeking a radical reboot

A conversation with Prof Dirk-Jan Koch on his new book Foreign Aid and its Unintended Consequences. Watch now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJW_h2cktNs This seminar will take the form of a public conversation with Dirk-Jan Koch about his new book Foreign Aid and its Unintended...

2 October 2023

Past Event

Covid-19 and building a better world: crisis or opportunity?

The current global pandemic of Covid-19 is a health and broader crisis of overwhelming proportions, threatening livelihoods, economies, and societies. It particularly affects those already experiencing the greatest vulnerabilities. In putting the lives of millions of people at risk, creating...

29 March 2021

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