Centre for Sustainable Development in the Indian Ocean
On this page
About us
UWA is ranked #1 for Development Studies in Western Australia. The QS World University Rankings 2024 place UWA in the world top-100 for the first time. This recognises the strength of UWA’s research and teaching in Development, which is university-wide, and the commitment of our staff and students. Across the university, UWA academics are tackling real world problems, and teaching on the most challenging issues, to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Centre for Sustainable Development in the Indian Ocean (CSDIO) leads the University’s cutting-edge research, policy work, and research translation in International Development. Our work is urgent, as governments, civil society and industry throughout the region seek collaborative solutions for addressing the worst effects of Human-Induced Climate Change (HICC), and its concomitant disruptions to our environments, economies and societies. So too, states and their citizens demand more coordinated approaches for responding to broader challenges of inequality, democratic deficit, pandemics, natural disasters, conflict, population displacement and cultural rights.
The UN has dubbed the current decade (2020-2030) as the ‘decade of delivery’, in which solutions must be found, and must be implemented, for all of these challenges, if the SDGs are to be ultimately achieved, to secure a common future for the Indian Ocean region. The UWA CSDIO exists as a platform to rapidly find, and to implement, these solutions, through evidence-based approaches, and through effective translation.
For more information, and to explore ways to partner with us, please contact CSDIO Director, Professor Richard Vokes.
Sustainable Development Goals
The SDGs were adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015. They consist of 17 global goals for advancing social, economic and political development in an environmentally sustainable way.
CSDIO’s mission is to address the major development challenges facing the Indian Ocean Region, as part of UWA’s wider commitment to the SDGs. We are especially focused on leading debates and practice at a regional scale in relation to:
- SDG #2 = Zero hunger
- SDG#3 = Good health and well-being
- SDG#6 = Clean water and sanitation
- SDG#7 = Affordable and clean energy
- SDG#9 = Industry, innovation and infrastructure
- SDG#11 = Sustainable cities and communities
- SDG#13 = Climate action
- SDG#14 = Life below water
CSDIO is providing a platform for UWA experts, with their partners in academia, government, industry, and more importantly, community organisations, to work together towards achieving all the SDGs.
Master of International Development
CSDIO is home to UWA’s Master of International Development (MID) degree.
The MID provides a rigorous and critical introduction for understanding processes of managed and unmanaged change in societies in the Global South.
This course is highly multi-disciplinary, covering all areas of development policy and practice, the intellectual history of development, and internal debates within the field. Its units emphasise learning through empirical evidence, real-time case studies, and debates.
MID students also have the opportunity to undertake internships with development organisations, and to conduct fieldwork on SDG-focused topics, including in developing countries.
For more information, and to apply, visit the MID homepage.
Ethnography Lab of Western Australia
CSDIO is fully integrated with the Ethnography Lab of Western Australia (ELWA). Founded in 2020, ELWA is breaking new ground in participatory research methods for International Development. The Lab is using digital technologies to support new kinds co-designed, multi-modal, participatory research, including with communities across Western Australia, and throughout the Indian Ocean region.
Its current projects are looking at, for example: Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) for transforming agriculture; ‘Serious Gaming’ in urban design and development planning; Evaluative Action Research (EAR) for addressing youth offending among migrant youth; Visual methods (including Photovoice) for strengthening community decision-making, and; digital storytelling and truth-telling for Post-Conflict Reconstruction.
CSDIO members participate in ELWA regular Research Methods Masterclasses, in its global hybrid seminar series, and in its conferences and workshops.
Current research projects
Below is a sample of our current research projects. Check back soon, because new projects are coming on-stream regularly.
-
Roads to the Future: Infrastructure-led Development in Africa and the Indian Ocean
As global road building accelerates at an unprecedented rate, there is an urgent need to better understand new roads’ economic, socio-political and cultural effects. Through a series of case studies of major new road building projects throughout Africa and the Indian Ocean region this project is developing new methodologies for researching mew roads’ potential economic benefits, as well as their risks, including their environmental risks.
For more information, please contact: [email protected]
-
Fish-Farming Around the Indian Ocean: Socio-Technical Approaches
Aquaculture plays an important role in food security across the Indian Ocean Region, especially for low-socioeconomic status (SES) households. It has the potential to significantly improve the nutritional profile of households, as well as household incomes. However, its uptake has been highly uneven across the region, due to a range of technical problems, and socio-economic constraints. This project is developing solutions to these challenges.
For more information, please contact: [email protected]
-
Disability and Gendered Wage Gaps in Indonesia
Indonesia is home to approximately 23 million People with Disabilities (PwDs), constituting constitutes about 8.5% of the population. Disability has the potential to exacerbate existing vulnerabilities, and previous research has found evidence of an employment gap for people with disability. This research is exploring intersectionality between disability and gender, especially in relation to the gender wage gap, to strengthen evidence-based policy in this area.
For more information, please contact: [email protected]
-
Breastfeeding in Australia and in the Indian Ocean Rim Region
This project is comprehensively documenting breastfeeding in Australia and in the Indian Ocean rim region. Through rigorous data collection and analysis, it is providing a detailed understanding of breastfeeding practices across the region’s diverse cultural contexts. By examining factors that influence different rates of breastfeeding initiation, duration, and exclusivity, it is outputting interventions and policies to support all breastfeeding mothers.
For more information, please contact: [email protected]