Centre for Accountability and Global Development (CAGD)

We aim to:

• further the understanding of governance and accountability ideas shaping the world
• produce public policy oriented research and provide practical solutions
• encourage collaboration with a wide range of organisations and individuals
• critique contemporary practices and power to advance democracy, equity and social justice
• use a plurality of theoretical perspectives to call power to account
• provide intellectual freedom to challenge established orthodoxies
• engage in lifelong learning

Our academic staff frequently feature within the wider press and media. Below are some examples of their latest appearances:

• Watch the BBC interview by Professor Shahzad Uddin on Bangladesh Politics, August 5, 2024.
• Read the Conversation article by Professor Thankom Arun on Ratan Tata: a compassionate industrialist who cared about employees and citizens as well as profit
• Read the Conversation article by Dalia Alazzeh and Professor Shahzad Uddin on Palestine’s economy teeters on the brink after a year of war and unrelenting destruction,  October 29, 2024.
• Read the Conversation article Bangladesh: how the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, lost her grip on power. The Conversation, 6th August 2024.
• Read the Conversation article on How Israel uses financial control as a tool of collective punishment against Palestine, 29th May 2024.
• Read the blogs Weaponising Revenue Controls: Dominance of Israel over Palestine (with Dalia Alazzeh), 17th November 2023, Everyday Society, British Sociological Association.
• Read The World Bank Blogs article by Tobias Polzer, Pawan Adhikari, Cong Phuong Nguyen and Levi Garseth-Nesbakk on What emerging economies and low-income countries need to do before adopting International Public Sector Accounting Standards
• Read The Conversation article by Professor Thankom Arun on how Indian pharma is being squeezed - and it's bad news for drug access in developing countries
• The Business Daily Africa article on how to Embrace virtual AGMs to end shareholder apathy by Danson Kimani
• Read The World Bank Blogs article by Bedanand Upadhaya, Kelum Jayasinghe, Pawan Adhikari, Chaminda Wijethilake and Thankom Arun, People participation is a must in climate programs

Our members host and are invited to speak at a number of high-profile research events. From workshops to conferences, here are some examples of our most notable appearances:

• In June 2025 we co-organised the 4th Biennial Emerging Scholars Colloquium and Conference on Accounting and Accountability in Emerging Economies (AAEE 2025), which was held at Bali in Indonesia. The conference was run in collaboration with Gadjah Mada University (UGM) and Udayana University and was supported by the Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies. The event was covered by media outlets Republika and iNews Sleman in Indonesia, and a brief recap video can be found on Google Drive.
• Professor Shahzad Uddin delivered a keynote speech on "Epistemic Injustice and Accounting Scholarship" at the British Accounting and Finance Association (BAFA) Annual Conference, held at the University of Portsmouth. April, 2024
• Professor Uddin participated as a panellist discussing "Accounting in Non-Western Countries" at the European Accounting Association (EAA) 46th Annual Congress in Bucharest, Romania. May 2024.
• Professor Shahzad Uddin hosted a session on Academic Frontiers: Engaging with Genocide, War, and Colonization through Scholarly Narratives: Palestine, CSEAR
• Joint research seminar with the Essex Accounting Centre and the CAGD with guest speaker Professor Kathryn Hochstetler from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
• Professor Aseem Prakesh discusses the three faces of climate justice
• Participatory Budgeting and Human Rights-based Approach to Development: Insights from Makueni County in Kenya: His Excellency Professor Kivutha Kibwana, Governor of Makueni County in Kenya, presented this seminar on 4 November 2020, and which was also attended by colleagues from across the University of Essex.
• Governance: The Weakest Link: A seminar presented by guest speaker Mr. K. Jayakumar, Director of the Institute of Management in Government, Kerala, India (also founding Vice-Chancellor of the Malayalam University and former Chief Secretary, Government of Kerala, India), on 30 October 2019.
• Climate Change and Women Empowerment in Bangladesh: Half-day workshop with representatives of Gram Unnayan Karma (GUK) Microfinance Bank of Bangladesh, who discussed GUK’s agenda in job creation, mitigating poverty and supporting poor and ultra-poor households in the Northwest region of Bangladesh, on 9 October 2019.

Our members have received funding from various funding bodies, such as The British Council, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) and The World Bank Group. 

For example, Professor Arun is leading a project on bilateral trade between India and the UK on Fintech and fintech enabled services, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR). It is one of four projects supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) under their joint call for collaborative research on the future of UK-India trade and cross-border investment in a changing global environment, as stated in the India-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD). The three-year project brings together leading research institutions, government organisations and fintech firms from both countries to assess the role of fintech in expanding bilateral trade between the UK and India. 

The key partners of the project are: Professor Sachin Chaturvedi, Director General at the Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), in New Delhi, Professor Victor Murinde, Director, Centre for Global Finance, SOAS, Professor Sheri Markose, from Essex’s Department of Economics, Professor K J Joseph, Director of the Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation (GIFT), Dr Philip Kostov, from the School of Business at the University of Central Lancashire, Dr Priyadarshi Dash, of the Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) and Dr Reji Joseph, of the Institute for Studies in Industrial Development in New Delhi

We have completed a project on mainstreaming financial inclusion in India in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Management (Bangalore), India. Financial inclusion is a subject of growing interest with national governments and international institutions. Learn more about the project at the Financial Inclusion project website.  We are also conducting a project by World Bank/PEFA project on “Integrating Climate Change and livelihood within Public Investment Policies: A Cross Country Assessment in South Asia”, by Bedanand Upadhaya, Chaminda Wijethilake, Kelum Jayasinghe, Pawan Adhikari, and Thankom Arun.

Our members also work closely with various professional bodies and learned societies, including the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes; Global Studies Association; Development Studies Association; and The African Accounting and Finance Association.

Research projects

• New Public Financial Management in Liberal Peacebuilding Discourse: The Palestine-Israel Conflict and The World Bank, Financial Accountability and Management, 40 (4), 549-572.
• The Power Struggles of Executive and Legislative Actors in a Kingship Budget Setting: The Role of Informal and Formal Power, Public Administration. Volume, 102, Issue 1, March 2024, Pages 131-146
• Supply Chain Accountability, COVID-19, and Violations of Workers’ Rights in the Global Clothing Supply Chain, Supply Chain Management, Vol. 28 No. 5, pp. 859-873. 2023.
• Public-Private Partnership and Smart City: A Curious Case of Japan, International Review of Administrative Science. 89 (3), 632-647. 2023.
• Workplace Bullying and Intensification of Labour Controls in the Clothing Supply Chain: Post-Rana Plaza Disaster, Work, Employment and Society. Vol. 36(3) 539–556. 2022.
• Labour Controls, Unfreedom and Perpetuation of Slavery on a Tea Plantation Work, Employment and Society. Vol. 36(3) 522–538. 2022.
• UK-India fintrade project
• UKIERI project on Mainstreaming financial inclusion.
• Project to investigate how fintech can deepen UK-India trade relations.
• Bose, U; Arun, T and Arun, S (2020) Can Information Networks Influence Financial Behaviour of Female Headed Households? The Mediating Role of Financial Expertise.
• Markose, S., Arun, T. and Ozili, P., (2020). Financial inclusion, at what cost? : Quantification of economic viability of a supply side roll out. The European Journal of Finance. Online, 1-26.
• Lessons from Kerala flood relief (2020)
• Climate change policies and implementation issues: lessons to be learned from South Asia

Research Impact

• Essex study shows climate change priorities across India, Nepal and Sri Lanka not matched at local level
• Impact: encouraging financial inclusion - improving policies and protecting families
• Impact: Raising the standard of accounting across Nepal's public sector

• Fellowship honour for award-winning accounting expert
• Essex professor receives distinguished academic award
• Shahzad Uddin receives a prestigious award from the Labor and Employment Relations Association for his paper exposing workplace bullying in Bangladesh.

• Waste management education in Sri Lanka