IPPG Team
Co-directors: Dr Adrian Leftwich and Professor Kunal Sen
Professor Kunal Sen is a Professor of Development Economics and Policy in the School of Environment and Development at the University of Manchester, where he is part of the Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM). In the most detailed assessment of the quality of UK academic research ever undertaken, HEFCE's 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), IDPM emerged as the top institute for development research in the UK, ranked by research power. IPDM research is assessed as 'world-class', and in significant areas is viewed as 'world-leading'.
Kunal's main research interests are macroeconomics, finance and international trade, and the analysis of poverty pertaining to developing countries. His early interest in institutional economics originated from his research on the performance of firms in developing countries (particularly India), and how their performance is impeded by the absence or weakness of institutions governing complex transactions, access to credit and corporate control mechanisms. Kunal's research contributions to the IPPG Programme include writing (together with Dirk Willem te Velde, Steve Wiggins and Max Cali) on quantitative approaches to the analysis of institutions and pro-poor growth, and work with Dr te Velde on a research project on econometric analyses. Kunal leads IPPG's State-Business Relations (India) cluster and supervises Shireen Mahdi, one of IPPG's sponsored students.
Dr Adrian Leftwich teaches in the Department of Politics at the University of York where he is a Senior Lecturer. His main research interests are the politics of economic development, with particular reference to conditions which have shaped developmental states and the typical characteristics they display. Adrian's recent work studies the way in which developmental states need to be understood, not only as political constructions, but also in terms of their institutional make-up and, in particular, the manner in which state-economy relations are mediated and organised by institutional links and co-operation. Adrian is currently involved in IPPG's study of State-Business Relations (SBR) in Africa. He has also written a literature survey on the 'Political approach to institutional formation and change', and been involved in the design and content of teaching workshops in Dhaka and Dakar. Along with Henry Chingaipe, Adrian worked on a research project based in Malawi, co-authoring a paper on 'The politics of State-Business Relations in Malawi'. Henry Chingaipe is also IPPG's first successful PhD candidate under the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission scheme. Adrian is supervising Henry's PhD at York, along with that of Daniel Appiah, IPPG's second successful Commonwealth Scholarship Commission award winner and Ashwini Swain, one of IPPG's sponsored students.
Programme Administrator: Ruth Hill
Communications Advisor: Sue Martin
Monitoring & Evaluation Advisor: Ingie Hovland
If you would like to contact any member of the IPPG team please email the programme office.
Back to about us.
Last modified: 31 March 2009