Projects and activities
Researchers from CDS are actively engaged in projects that attract major funding grants and often involve collaboration with development donors and NGOs from around the world, as well as research councils. A selection of our most recent work shows the range and quality of our research activities.
Joint MFS II Evaluations at Country Level - Bangladesh
Funder: WOTRO Science for Global Development
CDS researcher: Joe Devine
May 2012–April 2015
Amount: €659, 278
Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Triple Line Consulting Ltd.
Funder: ESRC and the Technology Strategy Board
CDS researchers: James Copestake, and Joe Devine
January 2013–December 2014
Amount: £102,182
Assessing Rural Transformations - ART
Funder: ESRC-DFID
CDS researcher: James Copestake
October 2012–September 2013
Amount: £365,656
Financial services, social networks and financial practices: investigating use and impact. Pt 1
Funder: Financial Sector Deepening Trust, Kenya
CDS researcher: Susan Johnson
October 2012–February 2013
Amount: £33,000
Impact assessment of financial market development through the lens of complexity theory
Funder: Financial Sector Deepening Trust, Kenya
CDS researcher: Susan Johnson
October 2012–February 2013
Amount: £24,000
Youth livelihoods, activism and extractive industry in Sierra Leone
Funder: British Academy
CDS researcher: Roy Maconachie
July 2012-June 2013
Amount: £7,000
Urban growth, domestic fuel choices and sustainable forestry in Kano, Nigeria
Funder: DfID under Round 5 of the British Council DelPHE Scheme
CDS researcher: Roy Maconachie
September 2010-September 2013
Collaborating partners: Bayero University Kano, and the Centre for West African Studies, University of Birmingham
Amount: £60,000
Wellbeing and Poverty Pathways
Funder: ESRC/DFID Joint Scheme Phase 2 1st call
August 2010-July 2013
CDS researcher: Sarah White
Collaborating partners: Brunel University (Department of Psychology); Govind Ballabh Pant Social Science Institute (India); Oxfam Hong Kong; Hodi (Zambia); Chaupal (India).
Amount:£500,000
Systematic review of the impact of Microcredit on the income of poor people
Funder: DFID
July 2010-June 2011
CDS researcher: James Copestake in collaboration with Richard Palmer-Jones (University of East Anglia)
CDS research theme: Markets, Microfinance and Inclusion
Amount:£43,820
Civil society, ethnic boundaries and theological resources: A case study of charismatic churches in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Funder:Templeton Foundation
July 2010-December 2011
CDS researcher: Graham Brown
CDS research theme: Insecurity and Conflict
Amount: $100,000
Financial innovation and policy development in low and middle income countries
Funder: ESRC and the Technology Strategy Board
February 2010-January 2012
CDS researchers: James Copestake and Susan Johnson
CDS research theme: Markets, Microfinance and Inclusion
Amount: £80,637
Understanding changing use in Kenya’s financial service markets: Quantitative analysis
Funder: Financial Sector Deepening Trust, Kenya
December 2009 – April 2010
CDS researcher: Susan Johnson
CDS research theme: Markets, Microfinance and Inclusion
Amount: £14,120
Financial Sector Deepening Kenya: Impact assessment
Funder: Oxford Policy Management under contract from Financial Sector Deepening Kenya.
October 2009-December 2009
CDS researcher: Susan Johnson
CDS research theme: Markets, Microfinance and Inclusion
Amount: approx £15,000
Responsible Wellbeing toolkit project
Funder: Oxfam Hong Kong, Action Research
April 2009–December 2009
CDS researcher: Sarah White
CDS research theme: Wellbeing and Human Development
Amount: £15,000
Protecting Palestinian children
Funder: East-West Trust and Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL),
CDS researcher: Jason Hart with Claudia Lo Forte
CDS research theme: Gender, Childhood and Youth
Amount: £6,000 awarded April 2009; £100,000 awarded January 2008 -2010
Discourses of affirmative action: A comparative study of India and Malaysia
Funder: British Academy Small Research Grant
2008-2009
CDS researcher: Graham Brown, Co-applicant, with Dr R. Bajpai, SOAS
CDS research theme: Insecurity and Conflict
Amount: £5,443
Non-governmental public action - 'The movement of the unemployed in Argentina'; and 'Social movements and collective autonomy in Latin America'
Funder: ESRC
2005-2008
CDS researcher: Ana Cecilia Dinerstein
Collaborating partner: Centre for Civil Society, London School of Economics
Amount: £60,000
Urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) in Freetown: Food security and income generation in post-conflict Sierra Leone
Funder: British Council/DfID, under the DelPHE Scheme
2007-2008
CDS researcher: Roy Maconachie (University of Bath) with Dr Paul Tengbe (Fourah Bay College Sierra Leone), Dr Kenny Lynch (University of Gloucestershire), Prof Tony Binns (University of Otago, New Zealand)
CDS research theme: Insecurity and Conflict
Amount: £90,000
Beyond the resource curse?: Diamond mining, global capitalism and local development in post-conflict Sierra Leone
Funder: Nuffield Foundation Small Grants Scheme Award SGS/34836
2007-2008
Investigators: Roy Maconachie (University of Bath) with Dr Gavin Hilson (Reading University)
CDS research theme: Insecurity and Conflict
Amount: £7,236
Religion and Development (RaD)
Funder: DFID
2005-2010
University of Birmingham Research Programme Consortium (RPC)
CDS researchers: Joe Devine and Sarah White. With collaborators in India and Bangladesh.
Total grant: £3.5 million
ESRC Research Group on Wellbeing in Developing Countries (WeD)
Funder: ESRC
2002-2007
CDS researchers: James Copestake, Joe Devine, Susan Johnson, Sarah White, Ian Gough, Andy McKay, Allister McGregor. With collaborative institutions in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Peru and Thailand.
Total grant: £3.25 million.
