Tim Kelsall is a Senior Research Fellow in the Politics and Governance Team at ODI. He specialises in political settlements and political economy analysis, with interests in governance, democracy, climate, urbanisation, economic growth, education, and health. He has worked in several developing countries, including Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Malawi and Cambodia. He holds a BA from the University of Oxford and an MA and PhD from SOAS, University of London. Prior to joining ODI he taught politics and development studies at Oxford and Newcastle Universities, edited the journal African Affairs, and worked freelance for organisations such as the Partnership for African Social and Governance Research, the Developmental Leadership Programme at the University of Birmingham, and the Asian Development Bank.

He has published extensively on issues of politics and development in Africa and Asia, is an alumnus of the East-West Center in Hawai’i, and an Honorary Research Fellow of the School of Environment, Education and Development at the University of Manchester, where he currently serves as Co-Director of Research for the African Cities Research Consortium. His latest book is Political Settlements and Development: Theory, Evidence, Implications (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022).