Oxford Department of International Development


The Oxford Department of International Development, or Queen Elizabeth House, is a department of the University of Oxford in England, and a unit of the University’s Social Sciences Division. It is the focal point at Oxford for multidisciplinary research and postgraduate teaching on the developing world.
The current Head of Department is Professor Diego Sanchez-Ancochea. Former Heads of Department include Dr Nandini Gooptu, Dr Christopher Adam, Professor Valpy FitzGerald, Professor Barbara Harriss-White, Rosemary Thorp and Professor Frances Stewart.

History

QEH was founded as a result of a gift of £100,000 given by Sir Ernest Oppenheimer to the University of Oxford. The donation was for the development of colonial studies and the establishment of an associated colonial centre. A further gift of £50,000 was given by the Colonial Development and Welfare Fund of the British government.
QEH was constituted by Royal Charter in 1954 to provide a residential centre which people concerned with the study of Commonwealth affairs could visit to make contacts and exchange ideas.
In the 1980s there was a drive to reshape QEH as a centre for international studies, rather than purely for study concerning the Commonwealth. In 1986 it was merged with the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Oxford and the Oxford University Institute of Agricultural Economics to create the International Development Centre, a department of the University within the Social Studies Faculty.
From 1958 to 2005 QEH was located at 20-21 St Giles. In 2005, the department moved to the former School of Geography building in Mansfield Road and became known as the Oxford Department of International Development. In 2011 the Palace authorised the use of the name Queen Elizabeth House for the buildings at 3 Mansfield Road.

Courses

The Department provides postgraduate research training and four MSc taught courses to some 200 students. These programmes involve advanced research methods, personal supervision, subject specialisation and fieldwork. International demand for these programmes is high and entrance standards are exacting. The Department forms part of the ESRC-funded Doctoral Training Centre for the Social Sciences at the University of Oxford.
ODID currently offers the following degree courses:
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The Department hosts some 80 active researchers working on four broad themes: Economic Development and International Institutions; Migration and Refugees in a Global Context; Human Development, Poverty and Children; and Political Change, Conflict and the Environment.
Research at ODID is conducted by individual scholars as well as by six externally funded research groups: