IOB - Institute of Development Policy

🎓 Congratulations to Dr. Eugenia Robles Mengoa!

Last Friday, Eugenia successfully defended her PhD dissertation "Enduring the grey zone: regulatory ambiguities, legal loopholes and gendered agency in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASGM)"

¡Muchas felicidades, Eugenia!

🎓 Congratulations to Dr. Eugenia Robles Mengoa!

Last Friday, Eugenia successfully defended her PhD dissertation "Enduring the grey zone: regulatory ambiguities, legal loopholes and gendered agency in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASGM)"

¡Muchas felicidades, Eugenia!

Measuring poverty on a spectrum instead of an arbitrary line conveys a more accurate picture of inequality An economist proposes a new method of estimating the scope of poverty in different countries.

A Wall Street investor recently argued the U.S. poverty line should be $140,000 for a family of four, up from $33,000. But an economist says the real problem isn't where we draw the line – it's that we draw lines at all.

🎬 "Refugee Stories" premieres 26 March at DOCVILLE Leuven
A data‑driven look at daily life in #Kenya’s Kakuma camp, moving beyond stereotypes through 5 personal stories.
Co-produced by IOB's Olivier Sterck
👉 https://www.docville.be/en/film/2026/refugee-stories-christian-baobab-raphael-bradenbrink/

Joseph Kony: how a Ugandan war criminal and his soldiers have evaded capture and endured for decades Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army have relied on borderlands and declining political will to avoid detection.

Joseph Kony & the LRA are still out there: in their smallest form ever, but still surviving. In this piece for @theconversation.com, I argue why this is the case: borderlands &lack of political interest: theconversation.com/joseph-kony-...; based on this article: www.researchgate.net/publication/...

🎬 "Refugee Stories" premieres 26 March at DOCVILLE Leuven
A data‑driven look at daily life in #Kenya’s Kakuma camp, moving beyond stereotypes through 5 personal stories.
Co-produced by IOB's Olivier Sterck
👉 https://www.docville.be/en/film/2026/refugee-stories-christian-baobab-raphael-bradenbrink/

Online seminar with Ali Abusheikh coming up tomorrow ⬇️

Online seminar with Ali Abusheikh coming up tomorrow ⬇️

Join us for Prof. Noura Erakat’s masterclass “Confronting Zionism: Decolonizing Palestine and Building the World Anew” at UAntwerp on 1 April 2026.
🔗 More information & registration: https://loom.ly/z0-rA-A

#LawAndDevelopment #Decolonization #GlobalStudies

📢 GLAC Seminar, Mar 31 (12:30–14:00 CEST, online)
🔦 Public lighting & crime in Goma (DRC)
New study shows lighting cut crime by 67% and boosted safety. by Elias Maombi Ndatabaye
👉 https://loom.ly/Zym0BZI
#UrbanSafety #GLACseminar

How do activists use digital platforms to boost visibility, challenge dominant narratives, and amplify voices from Gaza? Join our talk with Ali Abusheikh from We Are Not Numbers to explore storytelling, civic resistance, and online politics.
🗓 05/03 – 14:00 CET
💻 Online
🔗 https://loom.ly/Ble-ERs

Between the ghetto and the establishment: Our new article explores the dilemmas facing Bobi Wine’s National Unity Platform as it moved from protest to party politics in authoritarian #Uganda, and the challenges/frustrations this creates. Open access! #Bobiwine #NUP www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Ontdek de Einsteintelescoop op UAntwerpen tijdens krokusvakantie Nog op zoek naar een leuke én leerrijke uitstap tijdens de krokusvakantie? Loop langs op de expo rond de Einsteintelescoop, op de Stadscampus van UAntwerpen. Je ontdekt er, onder meer met een VR-bril ...

Nog op zoek naar een leuke én leerrijke uitstap tijdens de krokusvakantie? Loop langs op de expo rond de Einsteintelescoop, op de Stadscampus van UAntwerpen. Je ontdekt er, onder meer met een VR-bril op, alles over de plannen voor dit grootse wetenschapsproject.
www.hln.be/antwerpen/on...

What happens when humanitarian aid is cut? YouTube video by Centre for the Study of African Economies

🌟📽️NEW VIDEO

What happens when humanitarian aid is cut?

The CSAE's @oliviersterck.bsky.social (@odid-qeh.bsky.social @refugeestudies.bsky.social @iobua.bsky.social) discusses findings from a study of the effects of aid cuts in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya.👇
www.youtube.com/watch?v=99wS...

Uganda after Museveni | International Crisis Group This week on The Horn, Alan speaks with Kristof Titeca, professor at the University of Antwerp, to talk about the aftermath of Uganda’s election and what will happen when President Yoweri Museveni lea...

I spoke on The Horn, the podcast of the International Crisis Group, on 'Uganda after Museveni': Uganda's political future, and the 'succession/transition' question: www.crisisgroup.org/pod/africa/u...

📢 Online GLAC seminar upcoming!
📆Tue 24 Feb 2026 (12:30–14:00 CET)
Experimental evidence from #Uganda on how perceived seed quality and information gaps shape adoption of high‑yielding maize. Learn how transparency boosts tech uptake.
Register 👉 https://loom.ly/4w_pStE
#agriculturaltechnology

📢 Online GLAC seminar upcoming!
📆Tue 24 Feb 2026 (12:30–14:00 CET)
Experimental evidence from #Uganda on how perceived seed quality and information gaps shape adoption of high‑yielding maize. Learn how transparency boosts tech uptake.
Register 👉 https://loom.ly/4w_pStE
#agriculturaltechnology

Upcoming lecture! 📣

We are pleased to invite you to the lecture “Reading African Intellectual History in Atlantic Archives: The Mpongwe Vocabulary of the Santa Jago (1829)”, taking place on 4 March 2026 at the University of Antwerp.

👉 Registration/More info:
www.uantwerpen.be/en/about-uan...

Global poverty trends through a new lens Global poverty trends look radically different depending on the poverty line used. A new measure that doesn’t depend on ‘lines’ – the average time needed to earn a dollar – shows that global poverty h...

📉 Has global poverty really fallen since 1990?
It depends on how we measure it!

New VoxDev article 👉

@voxdev.bsky.social @iobua.bsky.social @odid-qeh.bsky.social @oxfordcsae.bsky.social @maxroser.bsky.social @ourworldindata.org
voxdev.org/topic/method...

Online lunch seminar coming up today at 12:30 CET 👇
www.uantwerpen.be/en/projects/...

‘Hier mag je toch roken?’: verbod UAntwerpen botst op examenstress bij studenten ‘Alle campussen worden rookvrij’, klonk het in september stellig. Daarmee werd de UAntwerpen de eerste Vlaamse universiteit met een totaalverbod op sigaretten en vapes. Wij gingen – discreet, want het...

‘Alle campussen worden rookvrij’, klonk het in september stellig. Daarmee werd de UAntwerpen de eerste Vlaamse universiteit met een totaalverbod op sigaretten en vapes. Maar houdt dat verbod in de praktijk ook stand?
www.demorgen.be/nieuws/hier-...

Global poverty trends from a new lens Global poverty trends look radically different depending on the poverty line used. A new measure that doesn’t depend on ‘lines’ – the average time needed to earn a dollar – shows that global poverty has fallen sharply, by about 55% since 1990. This was driven mainly by income growth in East Asia.

🆕 Global poverty trends from a new lens

Today on VoxDev, Olivier Sterck (IOB - Institute of Development Policy, ODID, University of Oxford) discusses a new measure of global poverty that doesn't depend on 'lines', showing that poverty has fallen sharply: https://ow.ly/VoPr50Y3Bsr

De UAntwerpen start een onderzoeksproject naar het leven van intersekse personen in België. Het onderzoek wordt uitgevoerd in opdracht van het Instituut voor de Gelijkheid van Vrouwen en Mannen (IGVM) en wil inzicht bieden in hun ervaringen en maatschappelijke positie.
www.hln.be/antwerpen/we...

🔎 Read our very first newsletter of the year!
Featuring @unrisd.org's Feminist Foreign and Development Policies and more news from us and our community
mailchi.mp/eadi/nl1janu...

Gaza to Sudan: Moral consistency as a colonial alibi These are not competing tragedies but linked sites of racial capitalism, militarism, and abandonment.

What does moral consistency mean during crises? And how do colonial legacies still shape humanitarian responses in Gaza and Sudan?
Read the insightful piece by Dr. Gert Van Hecken (IOB, University of Antwerp):
👉 https://loom.ly/P7CNZxM
#HumanitarianAid #GlobalJustice #IOB

Gaza to Sudan: Moral consistency as a colonial alibi These are not competing tragedies but linked sites of racial capitalism, militarism, and abandonment.

What does moral consistency mean during crises? And how do colonial legacies still shape humanitarian responses in Gaza and Sudan?
Read the insightful piece by Dr. Gert Van Hecken (IOB, University of Antwerp):
👉 https://loom.ly/P7CNZxM
#HumanitarianAid #GlobalJustice #IOB

⚠️ Attention!

For particular panels, the call for abstracts for our flagship conference has been extended until 14 January!

✅ Check which panels are still open for submissions!
www.eadi.org/eadi-events/...

📄 New Working Paper: Fiscal Response under Aid Heterogeneity & Regime Change (Pakistan, 1973–2020). Regime changes raise current spending & foreign loans; grants are donor-driven. Temporary aid matters most. Policy: favor grants + debt relief. 🇵🇰📊

En Ouganda, un scrutin sans enjeu mais un avenir incertain - Analyse Le président Yoweri Museveni et son parti, le NRM, remporteront probablement les élections présidentielle et législatives du 15 janvier. Mais le pays s’interroge sur la suite, à commencer par la (…)

La président de l' #Ouganda Yoweri #Museveni et son parti, le NRM, remporteront probablement les élections du 15 janvier. Mais le pays s’interroge sur la succession de l'autocrate de 81 ans. Si son fils est sur les rangs, rien n’est encore joué. Par @kristoftiteca.bsky.social et @foreignpolicy.com