LIDC research initiatives bring together sectoral and disciplinary experience from its different Colleges to address international development problems with partners. New initiatives arise at the inspiration of LIDC members or partners, or through LIDC workshops which bring together different research communities around a development issue. LIDC concentrates on inter-College projects which involve inter-sectoral and/or inter-disciplinary research. Development research programmes in individual Colleges may be accessed through College buttons on the website’s homepage.

Well-established research collaborations become Research Themes, described below. Research projects are described separately, as are current research collaborations between LIDC Colleges and partner institutions.

Current LIDC Research Themes

Theme 1. Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases (EZD)

Infectious diseases of humans and animals are a major problem for human welfare and economic development in poor countries.  Because most emerging human pathogens are of animal origin this means that zoonotic diseases (caused by infectious agents transmitted between animals and humans) pose a shared problem between the human and animal health sectors, and their control must be a shared objective.

LIDC facilitates inter-disciplinary approaches to studying emerging and zoonotic diseases by taking a holistic view of how natural and social environments affect their emergence, spread, and consequences.  Two of LIDC’s member Colleges, the Royal Veterinary College (RVC)  and the London School of Hygiene and & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), possess extensive research expertise in zoonotic diseases caused by viral, bacterial, and protozoal pathogens. Expertise ranges from molecular and immunological studies of pathogens to epidemiology, mathematical modelling, health economics, and policy analysis. The Colleges have strong overseas links which provide bases for field studies and international collaborations in developed and developing countries.

More on Theme 1. Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases (EZD)

Theme 2. Linking Agriculture and Health Research

In our rapidly changing world, an intuitive, simple and positive relationship between the production of food, its consumption and the generation of human health is proving to be neither intuitive nor simple, nor always positive. Decoupled policies and systems for agriculture and health are delivering low price food energy but are clearly not responding adequately to present global nutrition and health needs. The Millennium Development Goals to eliminate hunger and malnutrition-related deaths are falling badly behind target in some regions, while at the same time obesity and chronic  diseases are soaring.

LIDC is using a  new paradigm, Agri-Health, to establish a unifying approach and methodology for understanding the relationships between agricultural production and population health, and the factors which drive them both. This inter-disciplinary research initiative brings together research groups working on agricultural production; nutrition and public health; political and cultural dimensions of agriculture, food and health;  and global change processes.

More on Theme 2. Linking Agriculture and Health Research

Theme 3.  Improving Access to Medicines by the Poor

The Millennium Development Goals identify many opportunities for medicines to reduce the burden of disease on the poor, and call for a global partnership between developing and developed countries “in cooperation with pharmaceutical companies [to] provide access to affordable, essential drugs in developing countries’. But improving access to medicines for the poor is a complex challenge, requiring the successful integration of systems of medicine development, distribution, regulation, pricing, marketing and education. The unique breadth and capability in research, training and policy support within LIDC Colleges could be used to improve access to medicines for the world’s poorest people. LIDC has therefore reviewed the expertise of relevant research groups in its member colleges and mapped it to the steps along the medicines development and access pathway, as a first step in planning research integration.

More on Theme 3.  Improving Access to Medicines by the Poor

Other Research Projects

As well as our thematic programmes,  LIDC is facilitating new integrative research areas which bring together the  natural sciences, humanities and  social sciences in relation to international development. Examples of these areas include human rights, law, migration and health,  sport, gender and development, faith-based development, and ICT.

LIDC Workshops

8 October 2009  Corporate Governance, Ethics and Social Responsibility in International Development

15 July 2009  Human Rights and International Development: an inter-disciplinary exploration

6 July 2009  Medicines,  Seeds, and Fertilizers: sharing agriculture and health experiences in delivering products to the rural poor

22 June 2009  Facilitating Appropriate Use of Medicines by the Poor:  an inter-disciplinary exploration

12 June 2009  Animal Source Foods, Food Security and Climate Change: burden, blessing or both?
 
8 June 2009 Sport and Development
 
4 February 2009 Communications and Development
 
5 November 2008 Millennium Development Goals
 
29 October 2008 Water and Development
 
17 June 2008 Emerging Zoonotic Diseases: Science and Policy
 
20 May 2008 HIV/AIDS Workshop
 
9 May 2008 Anthropology Workshop

17 April 2008 Economics Workshop