Event recordings

What inspires us to become who we are?

September 2025

In this engaging seminar, futurist and educator Shakil Ahmed shares his personal journey into futures studies and explores how inspiration shapes our identities and aspirations. Through storytelling and reflection, participants were invited to consider their own origin stories and imagine new, empowering futures. The session also introduced Shakil’s doctoral research on the relationship between inspiration and futures methods, challenging dominant paradigms like GDP and advocating for more meaningful measures of collective agency. Drawing on global experiences—from Nigeria to Chiang Mai to Bangladesh—Shakil offered a compelling vision for futures thinking rooted in dignity, imagination, and transformation.

Celebrating Teachers on World Teachers’ Day

September 2025

In this interactive session led by Dr Kris Stutchbury, joined by Dr Catharine Bleasdale, Prof Patriciah Wambugu, and Rita Nyirenda, teacher educators from around the world came together to reflect on the kinds of teachers needed in their contexts and the implications for teacher development. Drawing on research from the Centre for the Study of Global Development (CSGD), the panel explored how to empower teachers as agents of change, highlighting both shared challenges and diverse approaches to supporting teachers across cultures.

Reimagining Development - Bold Directions Towards a Thriving World

July 2025

Dr Peter Sutoris and Dr Uma Pradhan joined the Centre for the Study of Global Development to discuss their book Reimagining Development, offering bold, inclusive alternatives to dominant development paradigms and highlighting diverse global perspectives.

Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa (TESSA): 20 Years of Learning!

June 2025

Dr Kris Stutchbury led an engaging session reflecting on the impact of the TESSA initiative, sharing insights into its contributions to teacher professional development and educational change across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Feminism remains Foreign - What needs to Change for a New World Order

April 2025

In this powerful conversation, Kavita reflected on why feminist principles remain absent from mainstream policy and highlighted the transformative potential of feminist movements to drive global equity and justice.

Urgent action for gender equity: working together, what can we all do?

March 2025

In celebration of International Women’s Day 2025, this seminar brought together Professor Elsie Effah Kaufmann, Professor Kyria Finardi, and Assistant Professor Gabriela Fernando to explore collaborative strategies for advancing gender equity across education, health, language, and culture.

Unleashed Agency for Social Transformation

March 2025

The Language & Society Hub at the Open University’s Centre for the Study of Global Development, in collaboration with the MiRCO Research Centre, hosted an IPrA pre-panel conversation titled Unleashed Agency for Social Transformation, featuring Rosina Marquez-Reiter and colleagues in a dynamic discussion on the role of language and agency in driving social change.

From Pilots to Policy? Rural Livelihoods, Social Protection in Malawi

February 2025

Professor James Copestake and the Centre for the Study of Global Development hosted a seminar on rural livelihoods and social protection in Malawi, sharing insights from pilot initiatives and fostering discussion on policies to support vulnerable communities.

Learning Teams to Support Children's Learning and Wellbeing

January 2025

The seminar explored how learning teams in Nepal and Kenya are fostering cross-sector collaboration to support children’s learning and wellbeing. It drew on a research partnership between The Open University’s Centre for the Study of Global Development, the Learning Generation Initiative, Kathmandu University in Nepal, and Education Design Unlimited (EDU) in Kenya.

Technology-supported teacher professional development in low and middle-income countries: A study in Tanzania

November 2024

This presentation shares key findings from the MEWAKA teacher professional development initiative in Tanzania, highlighting insights from its design, implementation, and scaling phases, with a focus on equity, agency, and local adaptation.

Shifting Power: Artificial Intelligence researchers’ perspectives from the margins

September 2024

This seminar, hosted by Dr Venetia Brown and the Centre for the Study of Global Development, explored how AI researchers and practitioners in low- to middle-income countries conceptualise harm and societal impacts of AI, drawing on insights from in-depth interviews across several continents.

Should social protection speak to social justice?

June 2024

Dr Hania Sholkamy spoke on whether social protection can be linked to social justice and drew examples from Egypt's social protection programmes.

Towards a theory of development and development studies of liberation

April 2024

Dr Sebeka Plaatjie shared critical reflections on development studies and development theory.

Digital poverty and the digitalisation of government service delivery

March 2024

Dr Becky Faith spoke about digital poverty and the digitalisation of government service delivery; drawing on her research in the UK and Nigeria.

Exploring Teachers' Identity - Towards Mental Health Wellbeing with Dr Munir Sewani

November 2023

Dr Sewani - a Charles Wallace Fellow at the Institute of Educational Technology (IET), spoke about the intricate relationship between personal and professional identity, shedding light on the common mental health challenges that teachers encounter in their careers. Dr Sewani then introduce his innovative model of teacher identity exploration, which provides a structured framework for educators to navigate the complexities of their professional roles while safeguarding their mental well-being.

Developing collaborative projects: why, how and with whom with Prof Norman Sartorius

October 2023

Collaboration is essential for addressing complex global development issues. However, challenges such as misaligned priorities, differences in ways of working, and funding issues can hinder effective partnerships. In this seminar, Professor Norman Sartorius discussed how to select partners, conduct studies, and ensure participation benefits.

Reducing poverty and improving wellbeing: time for a new ‘human face’? with Dr Keetie Roelen

September 2023

Dr Keetie Roelen argued that it’s time for a new ‘human face’ in policies that seek to reduce poverty and improve wellbeing. Building on research by Dr Roelen and others, including in Bangladesh, Burundi, and Haiti, Dr Roelen proposes that efforts that take greater account of heterogeneity, precarity, human connection, and wider poverty narratives aren’t merely more dignified and respectful but can also galvanise impact and reduce inequality.

Insight and Experiences from Teacher Professional Development Research

July 2023

Professor Vikas Maniar from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India and Professor Dr Md. Abdul Halim, Professor Dr S M Hafizur Rahman and Professor Mohammad Nure Alam Siddique from the Institute of Education and Research, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, shared insights from their projects and research in Teacher Professional Development (TPD).

Am I a girl? Defining the adolescent stage of life and its impact on educational opportunities

March 2023

This seminar brought together leading actors from academia and the NGO sector to discuss the ways in which girls and young women are framed during adolescence.

 

Actors, not voices: engaging rural women and girls as researchers

March 2023

This event explored the importance of actively engaging rural women and girls in research processes to strengthen the evidence base and meaningfully inform policy.

 

What does it mean to ‘adapt an innovation’ when scaling global development projects?

March 2023

This session drew on emerging findings from education projects in different contexts which aim for system change to illustrate how adaptation has occurred in practice and share a tentative model for adaptation to prompt discussion of adaptation in different sectors such as health, nutrition and youth employment, and contexts