Following ten years of inspirational leadership by Melissa Leach, IDS is now advertising for a new Director to lead the organisation after Melissa steps down in April 2024.
![A photo of two male youths upside-down in the air after jumping from a wall in a cemetery on the outskirts of their refugee camp in Khan Younis, Gaza. The wall behind them shows damage from past Israeli incursions.](https://www.ids.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IDS_Website_1600-1024x512.jpg)
The new Director will take forward the organisation’s pioneering work, building on our reputation as one of the world’s leading development studies institutes and advancing our research, teaching and impact.
Chair of the Institute of Development Studies’ Board of Trustees, Deepak Nayyar, said:
“We are searching for a new Director of IDS. It is an institution that is a global pioneer and leader in development studies.
You will have a unique opportunity to inherit its superb international reputation and build on it further, so that we continue to be an influential voice in domains that matter enormously for the poor and the excluded around the world.
This role will require combining academic excellence with institutional leadership. And you will have an excellent team at IDS to support you in this quest. You could be the ideal candidate. If you think that you have the vision and the attributes we are searching for, we would like to hear from you.”
Melissa Leach said:
“It has been an immense pleasure to act as the Director of IDS for the last decade, working with some of the most talented and inspiring academics and professionals in development.
The institute’s combination of research, teaching and impact has made a real difference to people’s lives during its nearly 60 years of existence and I look forward to seeing the next Director build on the organisation’s strengths.”
About IDS
The Institute of Development Studies (IDS) delivers world-class research, learning and teaching that transforms the knowledge, action and leadership needed for more equitable and sustainable development globally.
For the last seven years, IDS has been ranked number one in the world for Development Studies according to the QS World University Rankings, in partnership with the University of Sussex.
To find out more about the role and how to apply, click below.