Editorial

Dear Reader,

Since its founding, the IEE has promoted multifaceted research with an effort to find theory-based solutions for real-world development problems. Currently, its research activities are based on the expertise of around 50 researchers and PhD students with backgrounds in economics, geography, law, political science and sociology. The diversity of disciplines convened at the IEE is reflected in the publications from IEE members over the last year, covering diverse topics such as global politics of intellectual property, social movements as drivers of urban policy, fair trade wine, privatization of the power sector in Latin America, financial cooperatives, and African procurement law, to name a few.

The multi-disciplinary approach of the Institute is not only a strength when it comes to running interdisciplinary master and PhD programmes, such as our Master in Development Management and the PhD in International Development Studies, but also allows researchers and students to find complementary research angles from different disciplines and conduct projects in cooperation with other universities. In the ongoing multi-university research consortium, Urban Food Plus, the IEE contributes studies from the field of economics to a larger project involving researchers from many disciplines, ranging from soil science to ethnology. The now completed MERCUR-project on transnational governance arrangements has combined legal expertise from the IEE with findings from the perspective of political science, provided by our partners at the Institute of Development and Peace.

Learning from the perspectives of other disciplines within a common field of interest can be challenging, but is always rewarding. Thus, we are happy to host the 7th PhD Conference on International Development at the end of this year. We are convinced that the conference will give PhD students from our cooperation partners at the School of International Development (DEV), University of East Anglia; the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex; the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Erasmus University of Rotterdam; as well as the Institute for Development and Peace (INEF) and the Institute of Political Science (IfP), University Duisburg-Essen; in addition to interested applicants from other institutions ample opportunity for mutual exchange and learning.

Sincerely,