Justice systems in low-resource and conflict-affected settings are often stretched to breaking point. In Malawi, for example, fewer than 800 lawyers serve a population of 22 million, and legal aid caseloads run into the tens of thousands
Welcome to Professor Sir John Edmunds, who has joined FCDO as the successor to Professor Charlotte Watts, in the role of Chief Scientific Adviser and Director of Research and Evidence Directorate. He is on secondment from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where he is Professor of Infectious Disease Modelling.
Chief Scientific Advisers (CSAs) are credible and authoritative Civil Service leaders who bring scientific and engineering evidence and advice to the centre of policy and operational decision-making in Government They play a pivotal role in ensuring that government decision-making is informed by robust, relevant, and high-quality science and engineering evidence. Serving as a direct adviser and independent challenger to ministers and policymakers, the CSA oversees systems that underpin policy with scientific expertise, convenes respected advisory groups, and leads departmental research and development strategy.
The CSA also fosters strong links across government, academia, and international partners while providing expert insight during emergencies and guiding the department’s engagement with national and global scientific issues.
As Director of Research and Evidence Directorate, he oversees FCDO’s portfolio of Global Research and Technology Development investments.
Justice systems in low-resource and conflict-affected settings are often stretched to breaking point. In Malawi, for example, fewer than 800 lawyers serve a population of 22 million, and legal aid caseloads run into the tens of thousands
A major new international research and policy partnership is helping to shape the future of sustainable transport across low and middle-income countries.
Young Lives is a unique longitudinal research programme that has followed 12,000 young people in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam – from infancy to adulthood – for more than 2 decades.
Artificial intelligence is often presented as a new frontier for international development. But the Frontier Tech Hub’s 4-part newsletter series, On the Frontier of AI, tells a more grounded and useful story: AI is not new, not only about large language models, and not useful unless the right data, infrastructure, institutions and safeguards are in place.