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Professor of Globalisation and Development; Director of the Oxford Martin Programmes on Technological and Economic Change, The Future of Work and the Future of Development, University of Oxford

Ian Goldin is Oxford University Professor of Globalisation and Development and leads the Oxford Martin Programmes on Technological and Economic Change, Future of Work and Future of Development. He is also Professorial Fellow at the University's Balliol College. From 2006-2016 he was founding Director of the Oxford Martin School, bringing together over 300 academics from across Oxford University to address the biggest global challenges. He is the author of Age of the City: Why our Future will be Won or Lost Together.

Previously Ian was Vice President of the World Bank (2003-2006) and prior to that the Bank's Director of Development Policy (2001-2003). He served on the Bank's senior management team and led the Bank's collaboration with the United Nations and other partners as well as with key countries. As Director of Development Policy, he played a pivotal role in the research and strategy agenda of the Bank.

From 1996 to 2001 he was Chief Executive and Managing Director of the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and served as an adviser to President Nelson Mandela. He succeeded in transforming the DBSA to become the leading agent of development in the 14 countries of Southern Africa. During this period, Goldin served on several Government committees and Boards, and was Finance Director for South Africa's Olympic Bid.

Previously, Goldin was Principal Economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London, and before that he was Program Director at the OECD Development Centre in Paris, where he directed the Programs on Trade, Environment and Sustainable Development.

He has a BA (Hons) and a BSc from the University of Cape Town, an MSc from the London School of Economics, and an MA and Doctorate from the University of Oxford, and an AMP from INSEAD.

Goldin has received wide recognition for his contributions to development and research, including having been knighted by the French Government and nominated Global Leader of Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum. He has published 24 books, including: The Economics of Sustainable Development (Cambridge University Press, 1995), Exceptional People: How Migration Shaped our World and Will Define our Future (Princeton University Press, 2011), Globalisation for Development: Meeting New Challenges (Oxford University Press, 2012), Divided Nations: Why global governance is failing and what we can do about it (Oxford University Press, 2013). The Butterfly Defect: How globalization creates systemic risks, and what to do about it (Princeton University Press, 2014), Is the planet full? (Oxford University Press, 2014), The Pursuit of Development: Economic Growth, Social Change and Ideas (Oxford University Press, 2016), Age of Discovery: Navigating the Storms of Our Second Renaissance (Bloomsbury, 2017), Development: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2018), Terra Incognita: 100 Maps to Survive the Next 100 Years (Penguin, 2020), Rescue: From Global Crisis to a Better World (Hodder/Hachette, 2021) and his most recent Age of the City: Why our Future will be Won or Lost Together (Bloomsbury, 2022).

He has authored and presented three BBC Documentary Series After The Crash. Will AI Kill Development?, and The Pandemic that Changed the World and a BBC Analysis on The Death of Globalisation. He has been a non-executive Director on numerous boards, including CDC Plc, Implenia AG; Metropolitan, Old Mutual and Skandia, chairing and serving on all Board Committees. He is an Honorary Trustee of Comic Relief and the Chair of the CORE-Econ.org initiative to modernise the teaching of economics and serves as a trustee of the International Centre for Future Generations. He lectures at Oxford and elsewhere and provides advisory and consultancy services to the UN, EU, OECD, IMF and a wide range of governments and companies. His speaking engagements include keynote talks at Google Zeitgeist, the Microsoft CEO forum, TED, and over 20 WEF Davos meetings. His twitter address is @ian_goldin and website: https://iangoldin.org/.

Experience

  • –present
    Professor of Globalisation and Development; Director of the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford

Honours

Knighted by French Government for Services to Development