What academic traits create transformative research?

This is the second podcast about the Reciprocal Learning Exchange Project, a collective endeavour set up by the Muungano wa Wanavijiji Kisumu Federation and students from the Global Development Institute, supported by GDI’s Innovation Fund. Designed to better understand the benefits, challenges, and underexplored opportunities that come about when developing relationships between researchers and grassroots movements, the project involved several workshops to facilitate open exchange and reciprocal learning. You can listen to the first podcast here. This episode features participant discussion about the processes involved in developing learning exchange projects and how co-researchers can ensure every participant feels heard and valued. Fore more information about the individuals involved, please head to the ‘About Us’ section of the project website. You can also read a blog detailing how the project was structured and unfolded.  Find out more about the Global Development Institute:WebsiteBlogBlueSky LinkedIn FacebookInstagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters

The Reciprocal Learning Exchange Project is a collective endeavour set up by the Muungano wa Wanavijiji Kisumu Federation and students from the Global Development Institute, supported by GDI’s Innovation Fund. Designed to better understand the benefits, challenges, and underexplored opportunities that come about when developing relationships between researchers and grassroots movements, the project involved several workshops to facilitate open exchange and reciprocal learning. This podcast episode takes the form of a discussion between the participants involved, reflecting on what they learned from the exchange, how they developed trust in each other as co-researchers, and the wider implications for researchers hoping to include aspects of co-production in their work. Fore more information about the individuals involved, please head to the ‘About Us’ section of the project website. Another podcast with other members of the project will be released shortly. In the meantime, you can also read a blog detailing how the project was structured and unfolded.  Find out more about the Global Development Institute:WebsiteBlogBlueSky LinkedIn FacebookInstagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters

In this episode of the GDI podcast, David Fielding, Professor of Development Economics, interviews Farzana Munshi, Professorial Research Fellow, about her latest book, The Labour Market in Bangladesh: Emerging Challenges, Future of Work, and Policy Direction (Routledge). The pair discuss the fourth industrial revolution, potential upcoming transformations to the labour market in Bangladesh, some of the deep puzzles for researchers exploring the country's labour market, and much more.  Find out more about the Global Development Institute:WebsiteBlogBlueSky LinkedIn FacebookInstagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters

In this episode we hear GDI undergraduate students Evelyn Taylor, Olivia Thornburrow and Cheryl Loh in conversation with Cecilia Milesi. Cecilia has over 25 years of experience advising multilateral organizations, United Nations agencies such as UNOSSC, and international NGOs including Amnesty International and Oxfam. She is the founder of the Global Change Center and the youth participation initiative Subir al Sur, in addition to serving as an Asia Global Fellow and a fellow of the Global South Unit for Mediation.Together, they discuss how language shapes power in international development, why whose knowledge counts matters, and what a genuine shift towards Global South-led cooperation could look like. Find out more about the Global Development Institute:WebsiteBlogBlueSky LinkedIn FacebookInstagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters

The Oxford Handbook of Social Policies in the Global South has just been published, bringing together the latest research on social policies and institutions in place outside the advanced capitalist countries. In this episode of the GDI Podcast, one of the handbook's co-editors, Professor Armando Barrientos, discusses the rationale behind publishing the book and the contributions it makes to the broad field of social policy studies. Read the book here: The Oxford Handbook of Social Policies in the Global South | Oxford Academic Find out more about the Global Development Institute:WebsiteBlogBlueSky LinkedIn FacebookInstagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters

Three of our recently-graduated undergrad students - Amelia Campion, Alex Dannreuther and Niamh Keogan - speak with Chibwe Masabo Henry about the breakdown of aid structures and the ways we can shift our giving to a flexible, community-grounded model. Chibwe Masabo Henry is Shifting the Power Programme Lead at Comic Relief, and is also Chief Steward of One World Together.  Find out more about the Global Development Institute:WebsiteBlogBlueSky LinkedIn FacebookInstagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters

In this episode, GDI's Pritish Behuria discusses his new book, The Political Economy of Rwanda's Rise (Open Access, Cambridge University Press). Pritish explains how the country's economic and political prospects have changed since the genocide in 1994, as well as the development challenges Rwanda currently faces.  Find out more about the Global Development Institute:WebsiteBlogBlueSky LinkedIn FacebookInstagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters

In recent decades, conservation science has begun to pay greater attention to local people’s rights, livelihoods, and well-being. Yet the growing availability of data and advanced technologies raises new justice concerns for conservation science. This episode explores the justice dimensions of conservation in a data-driven world.This episode features Professor Dan Brockington from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, interviewed by Leverhulme Early Career Fellow Thuy Duong Khuu. Find out more about the Global Development Institute:WebsiteBlogBlueSky LinkedIn FacebookInstagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters

In this episode, we chat with some of the authors of a recent intervention published inTransactions of the Institute of British Geographers on 'Geographies of Responsibility, Care and Repair in Digital Worlds of AI'. We hear from Jessica McLean, Katarzyna Cieslik, Nikko Stevens, and Jack Gieseking about the threats posed by AI, the blurry definitions of AI, and the critical tools scholars are using to understand our ever-changing technological landscape.You can read the essays in the intervention here: Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers - Wiley Online Library Find out more about the Global Development Institute:WebsiteBlogBlueSky LinkedIn FacebookInstagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters

In her opening session for Research for Transformation Lab week in November 2025, GDI’s Diana Mitlin reflected on five academic personas and their possibilities for transformative research: the shining superstar, the convenor, the subversive persona, the collaborative co-producer, the shapeshifter. In this pod, we follow the recording of Diana’s reflections with a conversation between two of GDI’ researchers, Smith Ouma and Elisa Gambino. Ellie and Smith react to these personas through their own experiences and situate them in the current higher education and academic system of knowledge production. We hope you enjoy their reflections. The episode is hosted by Research for Transformation Lab manager Helen Underhill. Find out more about the Global Development Institute:WebsiteBlogBlueSky LinkedIn FacebookInstagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters