Stefania Lovo and Uma Kambhampati attended the Future of Development Economics Conference at the University of Manchester.
Professor Uma Kambhampati delivered a keynote lecture titled “The Relevance of Development Economics in the UK.” In her address, she reflected on the evolving role of development economics within the UK research landscape, emphasising the importance of maintaining rigorous, globally engaged scholarship at a time of shifting policy priorities. She highlighted how development economics continues to offer critical insights into inequality, structural transformation, and sustainability, both internationally and within the UK context.
The keynote helped catalyse discussions around the creation of a UK Development Economics Network. Colleagues from the Global Development Research Division will contribute to and help shape the future direction of this emerging network.
At the conference, Stefania Lovo presented her research on pollution from copper mining and agricultural productivity in Zambia. The study finds that moderate pollution from copper smelting reduces labour productivity, while simultaneously improving soil quality.
This improvement appears to be linked to sulphur and metal deposits that settle on the ground and act as nutrients, increasing land productivity for farmers relying on traditional farming methods. However, these gains diminish substantially when farmers adopt modern agricultural practices such as fertilisers and hybrid seeds.