Aims

Global-development research won’t build its own future. Somebody has to do it, and we’d like that to be us. We’re a mixed bunch of disciplines, held together by a long time horizon. People here have room to pursue ideas that seem unlikely, and they’re expected to make them happen. The horizon we’re pointed at is a causal, planet-scale understanding of how human lives develop, in the broadest sense.

Find important questions

We choose questions for consequence. A question that’s easy to answer but changes nothing doesn’t make the cut, and the method always follows the problem. Be bold; seek out new avenues of understanding!

Vertical integration in research

You own a problem here, all the way through. That means learning to walk from theory and measurement into design, code, validation, and the writing-up at the end. Small, focused teams get real freedom to wander.

Open debate

Straight talk is respected here. Criticize the work directly, and be specific about what’s wrong. A failed experiment is a good experiment if we learn from it. So disagreement is welcome, and the one line we hold is that people don’t get diminished even if ideas get torn apart in their evolution.