Vasiliki Mavroeidi
PhD student, Centre of Development Studies, Smuts Research Grant recipient
Industrial Policy and Global Value Chains: The Experience of Guangdong, China and Malaysia in the Electronics Sector
Industrial policy is firmly back on the agenda in developed countries, aiming to stem the trend of deindustrialization, find and support new growth areas, reduce environmental externalities and respond to the rise of BRICS. However, the rules of WTO and the increasing financial liberalisation have led to a different context for developing countries willing to pursue industrial policy today. Moreover, the internationalisation of the production system, captured by the term Global Value Chains (GVCs), has changed the picture, presenting unique opportunities but also challenges for developing country catch-up. Since this research project aims to understand the conditions of success for industrial policy in sectors with high GVC participation, the electronics sector in Guangdong (China) and Malaysia has been chosen as a case study.
Nungari Mwangi
PhD student, Centre of Development Studies, Smuts Research Grant recipient
The politics of agricultural property rights: Case study on the distribution of benefits and costs within Kenyan Flower Industry
Kenya is the lead exporter of cut roses to the European Union, and the second biggest provider of foreign exchange in Kenya's agriculture sector. The sub-sector also directly provides jobs for approximately half a million Kenyans. My doctoral research is aimed at providing a historically grounded institutional analysis on the distribution of benefits and costs within Kenya's flower industry.
Dr Ramnarayan Rawat
Smuts Visiting Research Fellow 2014-15
The Smuts Visiting fellowship at the University of Cambridge in 2014-2015 allowed me to spend a rewarding year at this vibrant place. My stay in Cambridge was academically productive, socially and personally very satisfying for three specific reasons. First, I found that moving away from our home and area of work was most helpful because we had few distractions. Yet, the Cambridge surroundings meant we were close to our pleasure of researching and writing with easy access to the library and to my affiliated departments. I was able to make significant progress toward completing my second book, Parallel Publics: A New History of Indian Democracy.”
Dr Emma Wild-Wood
Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide and Faculty of Divinity, Smuts Research Grant recipient
Short fieldwork visit to Fort Portal and Butiti to scope archives and interview significant individuals.
The aim of the fieldwork was to visit Tooro, Uganda in order to develop the archival research already undertaken for a critical biography of Apolo Kivebulaya, through whose life I examine religious encounter at a period of rapid social change. By examining Kivebulaya’s processes of religious adherence to traditional, Muslim, then Christian faith, his travels, Bible translation and church planting, his relationships with missionaries and Ganda political elite, his entanglement with British and Belgian colonial policies and his legacy in biography and corporate memory I intend to suggest approaches for a re-examination of the role of African evangelists and their aspirations.
Duncan McNicholl
PhD student, Department of Engineering, Smuts Research Grant recipient
Network Characteristics of Institutional Development for Rural Access to Safe Water
Over my six weeks in Malawi, I travelled nearly 4000km and interviewed nearly forty stakeholders - from ministries to communities - to understand how the network of organisations and stakeholders is linked, and what about this network is helping services for rural access to safe water to improve. During interviews I asked participants to draw the network of their organisation - who they interact with and how. Their recommendations then identified further stakeholders for subsequent interviews, eventually creating an overall picture of the sector.
Jane Lichtenstein
PhD student, Centre of Development Studies, Smuts Research Grant recipient
"In spite of the way my house is I am grateful and happy that it is mine.” Rural voices: initial thoughts about a household survey in Eastern Province, Rwanda
Hearing the voices of the poor in Rwanda is moving, inspiring – and in my view, essential for the validity of a study related to the effectiveness of a development strategy. I am studying a policy of the Government of Rwanda – to secure ‘financial inclusion’ for at least 80% of the population by 2017. I am looking at the purpose of the policy, its appropriateness – and ultimately its impact. Even if the policy is effective in delivering the intended changes, it is important to find out whether those changes bring life chances that are valued – and to ensure that the direction of change in Rwanda is largely positive for its population.