The Institute of Development Studies (IDS) is a research and learning organisation affiliated with the University of Sussex in Brighton, England, and based on its campus in Falmer, East Sussex. It delivers research and teaching in the area of development studies. IDS was founded in 1966 by economist Dudley Seers who was director from 1967 until 1972. From 1972 to 1981 Sir Richard Jolly was the director of IDS, and later authored "A short history of IDS: a personal reflection". Later directors included Mike Faber (1982–87), John Toye (1987 to 1997) and Keith Bezanson (1997–2004) and Lawrence Haddad (2004–2014).The current director of IDS is Melissa Leach, a social anthropologist and professorial fellow at IDS, who succeeded Lawrence Haddad in 2014. Prior to her appointment she was director of the STEPS Centre. Leach's recent work has explored the politics of science and knowledge in policy processes linked to environment and health; cultural and political dimensions of vaccine delivery; medical research trials, emerging infectious diseases, and ecology-health linkages.

Structure and research

IDS consists of ten research clusters or teams which concentrate their research on specific angles of development:

Funding

IDS is a registered charity. The top five funders of IDS are: With the University of Sussex, IDS offer a range of scholarship opportunities to help fund MA degree students.

Teaching and post-graduate courses

IDS has engaged in teaching since 1973 when the first MPhil course in development began. Currently it teaches at postgraduate and doctorate level and has been awarded accreditation for its teaching programme by the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI). IDS offers nine master's courses and two PhD degrees:

Notable alumni

Notable academics

Current academics

Past academics