DPP Research

In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise Development Studies at the Open University was ranked joint 4th nationally. The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) noted in their feedback that:

"Internationally excellent and world-leading outputs were identified across the diversity of research themes, and especially evident in the research theme 'Science, Technology, Innovation and Development'"

To achieve this research excellence the Development Policy and Practice Group carries out research into how development occurs and how development actions might be made more effective. But because development is a complex process development research cannot be carried out in isolation. Therefore, interdisciplinary and inter-continental collaboration are at the core of DPP’s research.

Our research is focused around two key areas:

(i) Science, Technology, Innovation and Development

(ii) Institutional and Human Capabilities in Development

Staff of DPP are members of various inter-disciplinary research centres. The  Innovation, Knowledge and Development (IKD) Research Centre brings together researchers from three faculties – Maths, Computing and Technology, Business, and Social Science – each contributing their very different expertise to the study of development. Innogen, the ESRC Centre for Social and Economic Research on Innovation in Genomics studies innovation in the life sciences, fast becoming a key development area, is based jointly within DPP and the University of Edinburgh. DPP is also the home to the Asian Drivers and Commodities programmes, which are examining the impact of economic growth in China and India on the developing world, particularly Africa. Finally, DPP is a core member of the inter-faculty International Development Centre (IDC), which promotes international partnership in research with particular focus on social development in Africa. DPP also has strong links with researchers in international development in Economics.