DV510      One Unit
Research Design and Proposal in International Development

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

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Students will work with their academic supervisors and the Doctoral Programme Director to structure a doctoral research proposal that has the potential to make a significant contribution to knowledge and that reflects a sophisticated mastery of advanced theoretical and methodological tools from one or more academic disciplines related to international development.  They will learn how to identify good research questions that are embedded in the current academic literature, and how to apply recognisable, defensible and academically sophisticated methodologies to address those questions.  The doctoral research proposal itself will identify a key research question(s) for investigation, a justification well embedded in existing academic literature for why the topic is theoretically and empirically important, and a well-developed theoretical and methodological framework for researching the question(s).

Students will attend 5 x 1.5 hour sessions led by the DPD, spread across AT (2), WT (2) and ST (1); and meet their supervisors three times a term during their first year of study in accordance with the LSE's regulations for Research Degrees.  Their proposals will be developed over the course of these meetings. There will be one PhD Presentation workshop in the Summer Term (for all MRes and full PhD students) at which MRes students will present their draft proposals and receive feedback.

In the teaching sessions, students will make class presentations on their projects, receiving peer and teacher feedback. Students will submit at least one full draft of their proposal for detailed feedback.  Partial drafts may also be submitted, along with preparatory work that the supervisor may assign in the course of AT, WT and ST, all of which will receive detailed feedback.

The reading list for each student will be determined by the research they propose undertaking.

Proposal (100%)

A research proposal of 10,000 words to be submitted in August.