Philip is a Senior Lecturer in the International Development Department
Danielle’s research is increasingly situated at the interface of security and development, focusing on how fragile and conflict affected states seek to improve their security through their relationships with aid donors. Danielle is currently developing research on the role of small African states in African peacekeeping and security initiatives and the UK's involvement in facilitating these processes.
Nic Cheeseman is Professor of Democracy and International Development at the University of Birmingham. In addition to numerous book chapters, he is the author of Democracy in Africa: Successes, failures and the struggle for political reform (CUP, 2015) and over twenty journal articles including "Rethinking the 'presidentialism debate': Conceptualizing coalitional politics in cross-regional perspective" (Democratization, 2014), which won the inaugural GIGA prize for the best article published in Comparative Area Studies. Professor Cheeseman is also the editor of the collections Our Turn to Eat: Politics in Kenya Since 1950 (2010), The Handbook of African Politics (2013), and African Politics: Major Works (2016), and two special issues of the Journal of Eastern African Studies on the Kenyan elections of 2007 and 2013.
Jonathan’s research is focused on the relationship between Western aid donors and African states, particularly those in eastern Africa. Within this he is particularly interested in how donors ‘construct’ perceptions of foreign governments and key concepts (eg ‘fragile state’) in international development. He is also interested in the extent to which these ‘knowledge construction’ processes are influenced by African actors and bureaucratic structures as well as by policy-makers themselves. He is currently working on a project on Somali international relations since 2001.
Dr Heather Marquette is Senior Lecturer in Governance in the International Development Department (IDD), and is the Director of the Governance and Social Development Resource Centre. She has 13 years international experience in research, policy advice, consultancy and training in governance. A political scientist by background, she has particular interests and expertise in anti-corruption reforms and strategies, political economy analysis, good governance, state-building, aid policy, the transition to democracy and civic education. She has worked primarily on Africa, and Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana in particular, as well as Afghanistan and India.
Fiona’s research interests are within the broad area of environment and development, particularly in terms of how institutional arrangements enable or constrain access to renewable natural resources by the poor. She is currently working on coastal ecosystem and livelihoods projects in Kenya and Sri Lanka. Before returning to the University in 2008, she worked for five years in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania on fisheries co-management projects and has published a number of articles from her inland fisheries experience. She also has experience in natural resource and livelihoods research in Ghana and Mozambique.