Staff

The Institute for the Study of International Development is proud to announce two new undergraduate research paper prizes:  the ISID-World Bank Institute Prize for the best research paper on governance, and the Albert O. Hirschman Prize for the best research paper written by an undergraduate in a course recognized as part of the International Development Studies Program.

The Albert O. Hirschman Prize is for the best research paper written by an undergraduate in a course recognized as part of the International Development Studies Program.

The Institute for the Study of International Development is pleased to announce that the following graduate students have been awarded a Research to Practice Graduate Student Fellowship in Development Studies.  Funding for this award has been provided by the Canadian International Development Agency as part of its most recent grant to ISID.  As part of the fellowship, each recipient will produce a policy brief on their proposed topic.

Does peace lead to democracy and economic development? It’s a commonly held view among development organizations, but new evidence from the largest study of its kind has found that such “untested optimism” can often do more harm than good. Common sense, it would seem, dictates that “all good things come together” when development groups focus on one priority — such as poverty reduction — assuming that political stability and democracy will naturally follow.

ISID is pleased to announce the launch of our new publication series, Research to Practice Policy Briefs. The papers, which were made possible by generous funding from the Canadian International Development Agency as part of our ongoing Strengthening the Contributions of Universities to Evidence-Based Policymaking project, touch on a number of cutting-edge topics in development. We feel they are excellent examples of how top-notch university-level research can be used to develop innovative solutions to the urgent challenges that organizations like CIDA must address.

ISID is very pleased to announce that we will be a strategic partner in the new Canadian International Institute for Extractive Industries and Development as part of the successful bid for a $25 million, 5-year grant from CIDA. The Institute will be based in Vancouver, with University of British Columbia’s Institute of Mining Engineering and Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business as the lead partners. ISID will play a key role in providing a multidisciplinary approach from the social sciences to complement the contributions from engineering and business administration.

The Challenge of Developing Countries from the Bottom-up

International Conference, McGill University, Montreal

21-22 March 2013.  Centre Mont-Royal, 2200 Mansfield.

Arguably, the biggest change in development policy in the past 25 years has been a greater commitment to promoting community participation in the design and implementation of development programs.