Global Aid Rethink aims to rethink the current global aid landscape; politically, historically and ideologically. With funding for development aid at its lowest for decades and the sustainable development goals related to aid significantly off-track, the question of whether we should give aid at all remains divisive as ever – and this podcast is not afraid to ask the difficult questions.

Hosted by Ivica Petrikova, an Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations at Royal Holloway, University of London, and Melita Lazell, Associate Professor in Political Economy and Development at the University of Portsmouth, delivers in-depth conversations with policymakers, practitioners and academics.

In this, the first episode in the series, Ivica and Melita respond to the aid cuts announced in the UK and the US in the Spring of 2025 and ultimately ask is this the end of aid as we know it?

Joining them to discuss this are Helen Stawski, Head of Policy at Oxfam GB and Tamsyn Barton, who was recently Chief Commissioner at the Independent Commission for Aid Impact and currently sits on the Boards for the Institute for Development Studies and the Centre for Global Development.

Global Aid Rethink publishes fortnightly, on Tuesdays, from 22nd April 2025 to 1st July.

• Read the transcript here

Episode credits:

Presenters: Ivica Petrikova, Royal Holloway, University of London and Melita Lazell, Portsmouth University

Guests: Helen Stawski and Tamsyn Barton

Producer: Catherine McDonald, Research Podcasts

Music: MFCC via Pixabay

Artwork and Audiograms: Krissie Brighty-Glover and Lauren White, Research Podcasts

This podcast was generously funded by the ESRC-funded Royal Holloway Social Science Impact Accelerator

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Global Aid Rethink aims to rethink the current global aid landscape; politically, historically and ideologically. With funding for development aid at its lowest for decades and the sustainable development goals related to aid significantly off-track, the question of whether we should give aid at all remains divisive as ever – and this podcast is not afraid to ask the difficult questions.

Hosted by Ivica Petrikova, an Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations at Royal Holloway, University of London, and Melita Lazell, Associate Professor in Political Economy and Development at the University of Portsmouth, delivers in-depth conversations with policymakers, practitioners and academics.

Key themes up for discussion in the series include recent developments in the UK and US, aid as soft power, as neocolonialism, as extraction and in practice.

Global Aid Rethink publishes fortnightly, on Tuesdays, from 22nd April 2025 to 1st July.

• Read the transcript here

This podcast was generously funded by the ESRC-funded Royal Holloway Social Science Impact Accelerator

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.