Ajoy Datta

Ajoy has worked for the ODI since 2006, focussing on the role of knowledge in policy processes, first with the Centre for Aid and Public Expenditure (CAPE) until 2008 and then with the Research and Policy in Development (RAPID) Programme until the present. His expertise lie in 1) knowledge interaction processes including policy engagement, research communications, knowledge brokering and deliberative public engagement processes; 2) key intermediaries such as think tanks, networks and legislatures; 3) policy processes and knowledge use including understanding and responding to policymaker incentives and; 4) sustainably developing capacities of individuals and organisations to make better use of knowledge. His work involves undertaking research, strategy development, facilitating workshops, developing toolkits, mentoring, network management as well as monitoring, learning and evaluation.

Notable pieces of work include: a 3 year study to understand the diversity of think tanks in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Southeast and East Asia; a diagnostic study of the ‘demand side’ in Indonesia to inform AusAID’s Knowledge Sector Programme (KSP) there; a 3 year UNDP funded project to improve the capacity of the Vietnamese Academy of Social Sciences (VASS) to better inform policy; a review of Wellcome Trust’s ‘Livestock for Life’ public engagement programme to improve animal welfare in the developing world; coordinating the Forum on the Future of Aid (a platform to support the production and use of Southern research to influence global aid policies) and helping to assess stakeholder perceptions of key multilateral organisations (to inform DFID’s review of its support to multilateral organisations).

Before joining the RAPID team, He worked at a health focussed NGO (called THET) as the Ghana programme coordinator, where he contributed to THET's support to health services there through institutional partnerships or twinning arrangements. Ajoy completed a Masters in Development Studies at the School of Oriental and Africa Studies (SOAS) in 2006, with his thesis assessing the costs, risks and benefits of Zambia's participation in the Fresh Vegetable value chain. During his studies he interned at Interact Worldwide - a Sexual/Reproductive Health and HIV and AIDS NGO in the UK. Prior to his Masters, he worked with VSO in Zambia (May 2002-Sept 2005), first as a volunteer physics teacher at a secondary school where he developed an understanding of some of the challenges faced by Zambia’s education and health sectors and later for the VSO country office as a programme development officer where he was involved in strategic planning, fundraising, partnership development and advocacy work. Ajoy's first degree was a Masters in Manufacturing Engineering and Management from the University of Durham (where he studied agility and lean management amongst other things) with his final year project focussing on the optimisation of race car design using statistical techniques.

Although now based in ODI’s London office, Ajoy’s work has taken him to a number of countries in Asia, Africa and Europe including Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Jordan, Egypt, Senegal, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Zambia, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Albania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria and Germany.