ODID - Oxford Department of International Development

30/09/2026

The MSc in Migration Studies is one of two postgraduate degrees in Migration Studies offered at the University of Oxford. Over nine months, the MSc challenges candidates to think about migration from a variety of perspectives: as economists, political scientists and anthropologists; as critical social scientists, and as prospective policymakers and practitioners.

As we approach the start of the academic year here at Oxford, Course Director Professor Madeleine Reeves shares her top tips for making the most of the masters - whether you’re already joining the course or considering applying.

➡️ Read Madeleine's tips in full: https://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/article/how-to-thrive-on-the-msc-in-migration-studies-at-oxford

➡️ Apply for 2027-2028 entry: https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/msc-migration-studies

The MSc in Migration Studies is jointly offered by Oxford Department of International Development and the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford, including the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS).

Course Director, Professor Madeleine Reeves, shares her top tips for making the most of the MSc in Migration Studies and navigating its demands, whether you’re joining the course or considering applying.

24/09/2026

The Refugee-Led Research Hub is hiring in Oxford!

Senior Programme Manager, Academic Pillar

Do you have leadership experience in higher education access programming? Are you ready to shape the future of refugee pathways into Master’s degrees and PhDs globally?

Lead RLRH's Academic Pillar, overseeing a team of 8 colleagues across multiple locations. The postholder will guide the full learner journey through the Hub’s hallmark access programmes – Graduate Horizons, RLRH Foundations, and Graduate Admissions Essentials – managing a dynamic team and leading outreach, facilitation, project management, and student success.

Deadline: Monday 19 October (noon UK time)

Details: https://www.qeh.ox.ac.uk/vacancy/senior-programme-manager-academic-pillar-refugee-led-research-hub

See also: https://refugeeledresearch.org/current-opportunities/

RLRH encourages applications from people affected by displacement and individuals from historically under-represented groups.

16/09/2026

In developing countries, nearly half of children under 5 are multidimensionally poor, undernourished, or both.

OPHI’s new report unpacks multidimensional poverty measurement to explore children’s deprivations in nutrition and school attendance. It finds that 252 million children under 5 — nearly half of those covered by the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2025 — are multidimensionally poor and/or undernourished. Almost one in five children under 5, or 95.6 million, are both.

And yet children’s experiences within the household differ. For one in five children, their household is home to some children who are undernourished, and some who are not. The report highlights glaring disparities within the household, which show an urgent need for integrated programmes which look within the household to see how poverty is experienced by individuals.

Read more in the full report, available now: bit.ly/OPHIchildreport

09/09/2026

Nesrine Malik has written in The Guardian about 'Chasing Freedom', the memoir by Simukai Chigudu (Associate Professor of African Politics):

Chasing Freedom is Simukai Chigudu’s own personal story, but like all great memoirs, it is somewhat uncategorisable. ... It is also the first rendering I have seen of a generation of Africans born to parents of a certain class, who were bequeathed the contradictory burdens of anti-imperialism and the expectation that their children must achieve outside the continent. That small class is an illegible one to outsiders in the west; neither wealthy nor poor, educated enough to take civil service or academic jobs, but never affluent. ... The book is full of arresting and poignant reflections, potent and often funny – Chigudu is a diversely gifted writer. One thing still lingers in my mind, a question that he asks himself: “I wondered what life I might live if the choice were entirely mine, free of pressure and expectation.”

Read the full article here:

Simukai Chigudu’s filmic memoir details the confines and conflicts of growing up in Zimbabwe during political turmoil

18/08/2026

Watch Muhammad Meki discuss microfinance 20 years on from the Nobel Peace Prize in this episode of Economics Unpacked from VoxDev

Can microfinance really help people escape poverty?Twenty years a...

14/08/2026

Poverty affects millions of children around the world. Children under the age of 18 make up less than a third of the global population but more than half of those in extreme poverty. This post draws on two recent publications that share lessons on what has been effective in reducing child poverty ac...

31/07/2026

We are recruiting!

Five posts are currently advertised:

Research Officer – Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI). Deadline: 14 August

Senior Programme Manager (Professional Pathways Pillar, Refugee-Led Research Hub). Deadline: 17 August

Academic Content and Facilitation Manager (Refugee-Led Research Hub). Deadline: 19 August

Research Officer (Comparative Law). Deadline: 11 September

Research Officer (Comparative Politics). Deadline: 11 September

Details here: https://www.qeh.ox.ac.uk/content/vacancies

22/07/2026

Writing for Project Syndicate, Adeel Malik (ODID) & Ibrahim Jamal Haidar (Lebanese American University) argue that durable peace in the Gulf region requires making the costs of violent conflict prohibitively high. Building on the analytical framework in North, Wallis, and Weingast's "Violence Trap", they offer a new justification for why regional economic linkages are needed to increase the cost of violence.

Adeel Malik & Jamal Ibrahim Haidar argue that durable peace in the region requires making the costs of violent conflict prohibitively high.

17/07/2026

New book: The Refugee Trap: The Economics of Displacement

Refugee movements are one of the defining issues of the Twenty-First Century. But what difference does it actually make to be a refugee? This new book by Alexander Betts, Naohiko Omata, Jade Siu and Olivier Sterck addresses this question by examining the economic constraints placed on refugees.

Drawing upon original data collected in camps and cities across East Africa, 'The Refugee Trap: The Economics of Displacement' shows that refugees confront a series of poverty traps that make them systematically worse off compared to citizens. These relate to trauma, dispossession, uprootedness, and rights. By understanding the mechanisms underlying these traps, we can in turn identify the policy interventions needed to support restoration, and thereby address the sources of economic disadvantage that result from forced displacement.

The book, published by Cambridge University Press, is available to buy in print and can also be accessed free of charge online through Cambridge Core.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/refugee-trap/979A132CB0D407870886FEC1C2725840

14/07/2026

📢 Exciting Opportunity! Young Lives is recruiting a Quantitative Research Officer.

This is an exciting time to join one of the world's leading longitudinal studies of childhood poverty and development as we prepare for our eighth round of surveys and launch the next phase of the Young Lives Research Hub on Climate Change and Environmental Shocks!

📜 Do you hold or are you close to completing a DPhil/PhD in Economics or other relevant quantitative social science discipline?

📉 Do you have experience in quantitative child poverty research with excellent analytical and statistical skills?

🌍 Do you want to work with an amazing international team of researchers, policy influencers and support staff?

Then why not apply to become Young Live's new Research Officer!

Application link: https://my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecruit/erq_jobspec_version_4.display_form?p_company=10&p_internal_external=E&p_display_in_irish=N&p_process_type=&p_applicant_no=&p_form_profile_detail=&p_display_apply_ind=Y&p_refresh_search=Y&p_recruitment_id=187186

⏰ Application deadline: 12 noon, 24 July 2026