The Overseas Development Institute

What do we do?

The ODI is the UK's leading think tank on international development and humanitarian issues. Our mission statement says that we aim to influence policy and practice with high quality applied research, practical policy advice, and policy-focused dissemination and debate. Another way of looking at it would be that we are trying to bridge the academic world and the world of policy; our work is about trying to provide practical and relevant real-world research and advice based on sound evidence. This involves doing research, but also providing advisory or consultancy-type services, giving workshops, hosting public events and meetings, amongst other activities. We work with partners in the public and private sectors, in both developing and developed countries.

What do we work on?

Looking at international development means understanding what leads to the reduction of poverty, the alleviation of suffering and the achievement of sustainable livelihoods in developing countries. This includes policies of governments in the developing and developed world, the work of INGOs like the UN and the Red Cross, actors in civil society and the private sector. We have five main research areas: Humanitarian Policy, International Economic Development, Poverty and Public Policy, Research and Policy in Development, and Rural Policy and Governance.

How do we work?

The ODI has around 120 employees, including about 80 researchers, a communications department, then admin, IT, HR and finance. Most projects are managed by research fellows (senior researchers), often with one or more research officers (junior researchers) or research assistants (self-employed researchers). They vary from month-long projects with a few short research outputs to research programmes that last a number of years and involve a number of different projects.

For a research officer, the work can be quite varied as you carry out literature reviews, telephone interviews, attend meetings and workshops, on a number of different projects. It involves reading and digesting a lot of research, and structuring it into accessible written outputs as part of a team. Although this can involve a lot of work, people can be quite flexible about how they work, and most researchers work from home at least one or two days per week.

To find out more about the ODI, visit http://www.odi.org.uk/