We are a network of experienced development professionals who all take a political economy perspective to development. Our Directors, Principals and Associates have specialist knowledge of particular countries and sectors. They have strong connections to government, the private sector, civil society, media and research organisations. They bring to bear their own long working experience within official agencies, academia and the private sector.

Neil McCulloch
Political economy of fuel subsidy and power sector reforms; structural transformation, investment climate and growth; politically smart aid programmes.

Laure-Hélène Piron
Governance, political development, rule of law, human rights, conflict and fragility. Political economy analysis and institutional development. Policy, strategy, programme design, review and evaluation

Gareth Williams
Political economy analysis and good governance, agriculture and rural development, private sector development, growth and poverty reduction strategies. Web development and IT.

Alex Scoines
Alex is the Business Manager of the Policy Practice, with over 15 years of experience in programme management.

Samantha Wade
Professional facilatator specialised in international development issues.

William Kingsmill
Development policy and strategy; political economy analysis; good governance and anti-corruption; accountability, transparency and participation; the resource curse; growth and private sector development; business alliances; China and Africa

Jonathan Kydd
Rural and agricultural development, new institutional economics, education

Alex Duncan
Public policy and institutional analyses; political economy of development, economic growth, governance, strengthening the private sector and markets, agriculture, rural development.

Andrew Barnett
Energy policy and technology and innovation policy in the public, private and NGO sectors from the perspective of political economy and instutional analyses. Aid programme review and lesson learning.

Olly Owen
Governance and development; political economy analysis; ethnographic and fieldwork-based research; governmental institutions; policy analysis and forecasting; policing; state-public relations

Sarah Vaughan
Political economy of Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa: institutions of rural development and economic change; federalism, nationalism and regional geopolitics; fragility, rule of law, conflict, gender and power.

Niki Palmer
Governance and political economy analysis; natural resource governance and climate change; migration and refugees; crisis, conflict and resilience

Simon Brook
Governance; citizen engagement; gender & social inclusion; political economy analysis, extensive experience in Africa and South & South-East Asia, Eastern Europe & Caribbean

Sam Bickersteth
Sam provides strategic advice to international development organisations on livelihoods, forestry, agriculture, climate, environment, financial inclusion, planetary health research and development.

Nicola Dahrendorf
Post-conflict environments, human rights, sexual and gender based violence, rule of law, security sector reform and humanitarian assistance.

Richard Holloway
Institution building in the civil society sector, social accountability, corporate social responsibility, anti-corruption


Sam Gibson
Social development; gender; social inclusion; training and facilitation; policy, strategy, programme design, review and evaluation

Mohamed Farah Hersi
Peacebuilding, state building, democratization, local governance, conflict resolution and policy management

Georgia Plank
Georgia is an independent expert specialising in: governance, security & justice; gender equality and inclusion; and social protection. Her experience spans policy development, programme design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and research – across sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and the Middle East

Bev Jones
Bev is a high level facilitator and team leader with 30 years’ experience in citizen engagement and social accountability, working with international organisations including DFID and the World Bank.

Sa'eed Husaini
Sa’eed Husaini is a researcher and consultant with an interest in political economy, particularly of democratisation, institutional reform, and the roles and impacts of political ideas.

Nisar Majid
Dr Nisar Majid has over 20 years of experience in international research and development, including food security and livelihoods analysis, political economy analysis, diaspora and transnational studies, cash-based programming and organisational reviews and evaluations. He has a special interest in the Somali peoples and areas of the Horn of Africa as well as in the wider diaspora.

Adérito Soares
Aderito is an expert in the fields of good governance, anti-corruption and human rights. He is an experienced facilitator, negotiator and strategic planner, with proven ability to deliver results in complex political and social environments.

Clare Cummings
Clare Cummings is a doctoral researcher and consultant with an interest in cultural political economy, public service delivery and politically-smart, locally-led development programming. Her consulting work has recently focused on FCDO governance reform programming (Nigeria), state legitimacy (Nepal) and health sector reform (Nepal).

Deborah Bryceson
Political economy, rural transformation, urbanisation, livelihoods, occupational change, poverty, mobility, transport, migration, settlement, agricultural policy, value chains, famine, urban food supply, gender.

Ben French
Ben French is an expert in organisational change and public sector reform. He is a governance and political economy specialist who has worked with organisations ranging from governments to philanthropies to develop solutions to pressing governance and public policy issues.

James Keeley
China policy and politics specialist, China-Africa, agriculture, project management, trilateral cooperation, monitoring and evaluation

Sunny Kulutuye
Sunny is a seasoned development consultant with over 25 years field experience in development and governance reform programmes, having worked extensively in the areas of political economy and institutional analysis, project monitoring and evaluation, policy planning and strategy, capacity building and training, voice and accountability initiatives, social survey/research; rural infrastructure service delivery, scorecard development, reform communication and strategy, organisational development and assessment, agriculture and rural livelihood programmes, micro-credit service delivery, enterprise/business development programmes, community mobilization for self-help projects and capacity building for local NGOs.

Susie Alegre
Human rights and the rule of law; legal frameworks for counter-terrorism; criminal justice capacity building and international cooperation; civil society; transposition of international legal frameworks.

Anna Khakee
Democratisation, democracy assistance and governance; EU governance policies; nexus between governance and security

Geof Wood
Sociologist, governance and livelihoods specialist with a regional focus on South Asia.