Prof John Gaventa
| Post: | Fellow (Institute of Development Studies) |
| Location: | IDS 243 |
| Email: | qdfs0@sussex.ac.uk |
Biography
IDS e-mail address: j.gaventa@ids.ac.uk
Role
Professor John Gaventa is a political sociologist, educator and civil society practitioner with over 40 years of experience in research, teaching and organisational leadership in North and South.
Professor Gaventa is currently a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies. He previously served as Director of Research at IDS (2015-2019), and as Director of the Coady International Institute and Vice President of International Development at StFX University in Canada (2011-2014). He has been a Fellow at the IDS since 1996, where he has led several large scale research programmes, including the Action for Empowerment and Accountability (A4EA) research programme (2015-2021) and the Development Research Centre on Citizenship, Participation and Accountability (2000-2010). He is currently a member of the Power and Popular Politics cluster.
Linking research and practice, he has written and/ or edited a dozen books and some 100 articles, book chapters and research reports related to issues of citizenship and citizen engagement, power and participation, governance and accountability, inequality and social change, participatory action research, and just climate transitions. His most recent work is Power and Just Transitions: Struggles for a post-coal future in an Appalachian Valley (co-authored with Gabe Schwartzman 20226), which revisits and follows on from his award-winning book, Power and Powerlessness: Quiescence and Rebellion in Appalachian Valley (1982). Other books include Citizen-Led Innovation for a New Economy (co-editor with Alison Mathie), Globalizing Citizens (co-editor with Rajesh Tandon) and Citizen Action and National Policy Reform (co-editor with Rosemary McGee).
John has also consulted extensively with a number of international donors, as well as with international NGOs. He has given numerous public seminars and invited lectures around the world.
A former Rhodes Scholar and MacArthur Prize Fellow, in 2011 he also received the Tisch Civic Engagement Research Prize for his distinguished scholarship on civic learning, citizen participation and engaged research. In 2012, he was awarded an OBE for his service to Oxfam Great Britain, where he was chair from 2006 – 2011. He holds a DPhil degree from Oxford University.
Contact: J.Gaventa@ids.ac.uk
www.ids.ac.uk