Rachel M. Gisselquist
Rachel is Director of the GSDRC and Professor in Governance and Development, University of Birmingham. Prior to joining the UoB in September 2024, she was a Senior Research Fellow with the United Nations University’s World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) in Helsinki. Her work addresses issues of aid and development cooperation, state capacity and governance, democratic politics and regime change, inequality, and ethnic and identity politics. She is a known international expert in her field, having presented regularly to policy communities such as OECD-DAC, UN DESA, and OHCHR, and undertaken more public facing work, both opinion pieces and media interviews. She has published over 30+ articles and chapters and edited four books and over a dozen journal special collections in outlets such as World Development, the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, International Migration, and International Peacekeeping. Recent publications include How States Respond to Crisis: Pandemic Governance across the Global South (co-edited with A Vaccaro) and Fragile Aid: Development Cooperation in Weak States and Conflict Contexts (co-edited with P Justino and A Vaccaro), both Oxford University Press (2025). In 2007-09, she co-authored the first two editions of the Ibrahim Index of African Governance, which has become a standard reference on governance. She holds a PhD in Political Science from MIT and a Master’s in Public Policy (MPP) from the Harvard Kennedy School.
Email: r.m.gisselquist@bham.ac.uk. See also: University of Birmingham staff profile
Zenobia Ismail
Zenobia specialises in studying institutions, party politics and elections. She has prior experience as a researcher at the Centre for Social Development in Africa at the University of Johannesburg, the Afrobarometer research programme based at Idasa, and the Community Agency for Social Enquiry, and also a lecturer at the School of Economic and Business Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand.
Email: z.ismail@bham.ac.uk. See also: University of Birmingham staff profile
William Avis
William joined GSDRC at the University of Birmingham in 2015 from the Overseas Development Institute. He spent four years with ODI in various research roles, most recently with the growth, poverty and inequality team. Among his publications are The data revolution: finding the missing millions and Towards a better life? A cautionary tale of progress in Ahmedabad. William’s research interests include identity and conflict, globalisation and political voice. His PhD examined constructions of Assamese identity in post-independence India (University of Sheffield).
Email: W.R.Avis@bham.ac.uk
Siân Herbert
Siân Herbert joined the GSDRC in 2013, previously working at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and Open Europe. Her work focuses on conflict, violence, and resilience analysis; gender; inequality; and the politics of aid, security, state-building and peacebuilding policies. She is a political scientist and international relations graduate of the FLACSO Argentina and University of San Andrés (Masters), and the University of Southampton (BSc Hons).
Email: S.Herbert@bham.ac.uk. See also: University of Birmingham staff profile
Iffat Idris
Iffat joined GSDRC at the University of Birmingham in 2016, having spent 10 years as an independent consultant for international development organisations, notably the UN System and the World Bank. Iffat lived in Pakistan for fourteen years, where her work focused on governance, disaster management, conflict analysis and capacity development. She was a lead in the World Bank’s efforts to promote the right to information in South Asia, and pioneered a proactive disclosure framework which was adopted by the Punjab government in Pakistan and the Government of Bangladesh.
Since joining GSDRC, Iffat has done extensive work on conflict analysis, violent extremism, humanitarian response, social protection, modern slavery, freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) and, recently, serious and organised crime (SOC) and the links between SOC and transnational conflict. Much of her work has included specific examination of the role of women. She has written numerous reports on the South Asia region (especially Pakistan), MENA, Africa and, recently, Eastern Europe. Through GSDRC, she has cooperated on other research programmes, notably SOC ACE (SOC & Anti-Corruption Evidence) and XCEPT (Cross-Border Conflict Evidence, Policy and Trends), and has published significant reports under those initiatives.
Iffat obtained her PhD in political science from the University of Hull; her thesis on ethnic conflict in Kashmir was published by Oxford University Press.
Email: i.idris@bham.ac.uk. See also: University of Birmingham staff profile
Sithandiwe Mujuru
Originally from Zimbabwe, Sithandiwe Mujuru is the Programme Officer for the Thinking and Working Politically Community of Practice and also a part-time researcher at the Knowledge for Development and Diplomacy Programme (K4DD) at the University of Birmingham. She was the 2018 recipient of the Mo Ibrahim Scholarship for Governance and State Building and holds a master’s degree from the University of Birmingham. Thandie maintains a strong interest on issues related to social development, women and youth empowerment, democracy and governance.
She is the author of Pathways to Increase Rural Women’s Agency Within Social Protection Programmes, K4DD Rapid Evidence Review 238 (Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies, 2025); K4DD Mpox Health Evidence Summary No.1 – 12 (Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies, 2025); and with Z. Ismail, Workplace Based Learning and Youth Employment in Africa (Include Knowledge Platform on Inclusive Development Policies, 2020).
Email: s.mujuru@bham.ac.uk
Sarah Verhaeg
Sarah is the K4DD Helpdesk Co-ordinator. Sarah joined GSDRC in 2024. Her role involves supporting the Knowledge for Development and Diplomacy (K4DD) Helpdesk Manager co-ordinate the production and publication of Rapid Evidence Reviews. Sarah was awarded a 2:1 BA Joint honours degree in English, Drama and Performance in 2007.
Email: s.verhaeg@bham.ac.uk
Arol Dut
Arol Dut is a Research Assistant at the Centre, where he provides support in rapid evidence reviews, publication checks and performs other assigned tasks. He is also an active contributor to GSDRC’s commentaries. Originally from South Sudan, he is the 2024–2026 Mo Ibrahim Foundation Scholar at the University of Birmingham and is currently an MSc student in Development Policy and Politics.
Arol previously worked at Kush Bank PLC as an Executive Assistant, managing the office of the CEO, coordinating financial literacy initiatives, supporting women entrepreneurs, and managing institutional partnerships. He holds a First-Class Honours B.A. in International Relations and Diplomacy from Riara University, where he received multiple awards for academic and leadership excellence.
Email: aid481@student.bham.ac.uk
