Leading Technology & Development Expert Joins OU

We're pleased to announce that high-profile academic Professor Smita Srinivas has been appointed Visiting Professor in Economics and IKD. Professor Srinivas is Director of the Technological Change Lab, a research and advisory programme at Columbia University that connects economic theory to developmental planning practice, and Assistant Professor in the Urban Planning department.

Professor Srinivas works with a range of international development actors from grassroots groups to multilateral agencies and private firms. She currently sits on the Urban Strategy Council of GDF Suez, one of the world's largest utilities, waste, energy and water firms, and is a reviewer or contributor to several global flagship reports. These include UNICEF's State of the World's Children 2014, OECD's Global Perspectives on Development 2013 and UNCTAD's Least Developed Countries Report 2009. Her most recent book, Market Menagerie: Health and Development in Late Industrial States (Stanford University Press 2012) analyses the health industry and the limits of market failure arguments in economics and development. She holds a PhD from MIT and has held postdoctoral fellowships at Harvard University.

IKD Deputy Director Dr Theo Papaioannou commented, 'Smita's research is influencing policy and practice around the world and I'm greatly looking forward to being able to work more closely with her. IKD are delighted at the opportunity the appointment offers to learn from Smita's expertise on such vital topics as inclusive innovation and development.'