A message to new and returning students from Department Head, Zoë Marriage
18 May 2020
Covid-19 has changed the way we work and study. We are preparing for our September 2020 in-take, and planning to support students through the challenges to their studies that the pandemic has caused.
SOAS is open! At the Department of Development Studies we look forward to welcoming students to our university, whether they are studying online or through a blended on-campus experience. All our teaching for term one, starting in September, will be available online. For those who come to London, we will be offering a campus experience, including access to library resources and student services, in accordance with government guidelines on social distancing.
The pandemic has also changed what we study. In the Department of Development Studies we take a critical perspective on processes of social, political and economic transformation, all of which have been affected by Covid. Our expertise on migration, conflict, globalisation, security, labour amongst other issues provides the analytical tools to examine the changes that are brought about by Covid, and the continuities that persist, for example in the ways that power is gained or experienced.
Many colleagues in the department have written on the evolving Covid situation. Have a read through their commentary here, and start to take part in the massive questions of development that are shaping our time:
- 'A crisis like no other: social reproduction and the regeneration of capitalist life during the COVID-19 pandemic' - Dr Alessandra Mezzadri , Senior Lecturer
- ' Self-Extinction of Neoliberalism? Don’t Bet on It.' - Professor Gilbert Achcar , Professor of Development Studies and International Relations
- 'COVID-19: This is a Global Pandemic – Let’s Treat it as Such' - Dr Adam Hanieh, Reader in Development Studies
- 'Weaponising the Covid-19 Crisis in India: A view from Feminist Review' - Professor Navtej Purewal (et al), Professor in Political Sociology and Development Studies
- 'Pulling-up the drawbridge: nationalism, self-interest and the collapse of global cooperation against Covid-19' - Dr Michael Jennings, Reader in International Development
If you have any questions about your programme, please contact your Programme Convenor: you can find out who your convenor is by following the link to your programme on the Development Studies Degree Programmes webpage (scroll down to find the convenor). They will be happy to answer any questions you may have about your forthcoming studies, and can advise on optional modules as well as core modules.
If you have any questions about the enrolment process, new students and returning students should look at our enrolment information pages . If you have any problems with enrolment, please let the programme convenor or our student support team (devstudies@soas.ac.uk) know.
Information about term dates, reading weeks and so on can be found on our key dates page . You can find information about what days lectures will take place on, on our timetabling page.
Otherwise, see you – online or on-campus – in late September!
Zoë Marriage
Head of Department
Professor of Security & International Development