Online event: March 13, 2023 (online) 
In-person event: April 10 to 14, 2023 (in person in Oxford, UK)
New Deadline for applications: January 18, 2023, 23:59 GMT

Workshop Information

To strengthen the links between young scholars in high- and low-income countries working in the rapidly growing field of entrepreneurship and private markets research, the Private Enterprise Development in Low-Income Countries (PEDL) programme and the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Development are organising a matchmaking and project development workshop.

This workshop aims to bring together pre-dissertation PhD students (from year two onwards) from institutions in high-income countries with PhD students and young scholars from institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Young scholars should be no more than three years out of their PhD.

Over the course of four weeks, we will combine online and in-person meetings with the aim of fostering new ideas and developing projects, grant proposals, and, importantly, collaborations across these groups for research on the frontier of private enterprise development in Africa and South Asia. The workshop will begin with a virtual keynote highlighting open questions and opportunities for possible contributions. Participants will then come together for a virtual Ideas Fair, where they will pitch research interests and ideas that are open to collaboration. Based on this initial virtual meeting, participants will be grouped according to their interests. Over the following weeks, groups will collaborate virtually to explore and develop project ideas before coming together for an in-person, intensive Capstone week in Oxford, UK. Workshop facilitators will help the matched groups to identify, develop and present joint projects that may lead to fundable grant proposals. We expect that small seed grants will be available from PEDL to continue collaboration and develop proposals after the workshop.

Organising Institutions

This workshop is co-organised by the PEDL initiative and the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Development. PEDL is a joint research initiative of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). PEDL pursues a research agenda focusing on private-sector development in low-income countries (LICs). The Initiative is motivated by the need to better understand what determines the strength of market forces driving efficiency in these countries. More information about the initiative can be found on the PEDL website. The Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Development is a research initiative at the University of Oxford. It focuses on low- and middle-income countries and works on labour markets, human capital, entrepreneurship and technology adoption in small and medium-sized enterprises, and the green energy transition. More information can be found on the Programme website.

Applications closed Wednesday, 18th January 2023 at 23:59 GMT

We aim to inform accepted applicants by end-January 2023. Any queries about the event or application process can be sent to [email protected]. Letters of support should also be sent directly to [email protected].

Morgan Hardy, NYU Abu Dhabi

Christian Meyer, University of Oxford

Chris Woodruff, University of Oxford, PEDL and CEPR