Jo Davies

Associate Professor in the School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading

I am an Associate Professor of International Development, with a PhD in International Relations. I have both academic and practitioner experience of international development and have explored: the politics of aid; corruption and development; and the international aid architecture – including the evolving roles of the US and China as donors. I am currently exploring how we understand ‘power’ in development, and how this can address questions of inequality and theories of change. I am investigating the role of resource extraction and the ‘just transition’ and the evolving relationship between the private sector and the state through a critical power analysis lens. As the Programme Director of Reading's BSc in International Development, I also publish on how we teach development. My recent research projects have looked at how we educate the next generation of development practitioners (funded by the British Academy) and looking at the development of sustainable and fair food systems in Ghana, Ethiopia and Zambia (funded by UKRI: Global Challenges Research Fund.)