Staff profile

I am a lecturer at the Department of Geography, Durham University, specializing in Development Studies. My research focuses on the interactions among society, technology and environment, and their implications for sustainable development in the Global South. Through critical political economy frameworks, I investigate the role of technology in both exacerbating and alleviating the tensions between work/livelihoods and environmental conservation.

I pursue an actively international and interdisciplinary research agenda: I have been a research associate at Cambridge University, visiting researcher at Yale University’s Agrarian Studies Centre and a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Wageningen. I have conducted research in Nepal, Kyrgyzstan, Peru, Colombia, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Burundi.

My research is highly practice-oriented; I have cooperated with the UNICEF and UNESCO agencies and a number of local NGOs in Africa (FVS Amade, FARA, CIP), South America (CONDESAN, AGAPE), and Asia (Practical Action, Mountain Societies Research Institute).

Chapter in book

• Cieslik, Katarzyna & Leeuwis, Cees (2021). Theorising theories of change in international development. In The Politics of Knowledge in Inclusive Development and Innovation. Ludwig, David, Boogaard, Birgit, Macnaghten, Phil & Leeuwis, Cees London: Routledge. 165-180.

Journal Article

• Cieslik, Katarzyna & Margócsy, Dániel (2022). Datafication, Power and Control in Development: A Historical Perspective on the Perils and Longevity of Data. Progress in Development Studies
• Cieslik, Katarzyna, Banya, Roland & Vira, Bhaskar (2022). Offline contexts of online jobs: Platform drivers, decent work, and informality in Lagos, Nigeria. Development Policy Review 40(4): e12595.
• Cieslik, Katarzyna, Dewulf, Art & Foggin, J. Marc (2022). Investigating project sustainability: Technology as a development object in a community-based project in Naryn, Kyrgyzstan. Oxford Development Studies 50(4): 289-306.
• Cieslik, Katarzyna, Cecchi, Francesco, Assefa Damtew, Elias, Tafesse, Shiferaw, Struik, Paul C., Lemaga, Berga & Leeuwis, Cees (2021). The role of ICT in collective management of public bads: The case of potato late blight in Ethiopia. World Development 140: 105366.
• Cieslik, Katarzyna, Barford, Anna & Vira, Bhaskar (2021). Young people not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET) in Sub-Saharan Africa: Sustainable Development Target 8.6 missed and reset. Journal of Youth Studies 1.
• Damtew, Elias, Leeuwis, Cees, Struik, Paul C, Cecchi, Francesco, van Mierlo, Barbara, Lie, Rico, Lemaga, Berga & Cieslik, Katarzyna (2021). Communicative interventions for collective action in the management of potato late blight: evidence from a framed field game experiment in Ethiopia. Food Security 13(2): 255-271.
• Paul, Jonathan D., Cieslik, Katarzyna, Sah, Neeraj, Shakya, Puja, Parajuli, Binod Prasad, Paudel, Saugat, Dewulf, Art & Buytaert, Wouter (2020). Applying Citizen Science for Sustainable Development: Rainfall Monitoring in Western Nepal. Frontiers in Water 2: 581375.
• Karpouzoglou, Timos, Dewulf, Art, Perez, Katya, Gurung, Praju, Regmi, Santosh, Isaeva, Aiganysh, Foggin, Marc, Bastiaensen, Johan, Van Hecken, Gert, Zulkafli, Zed, Mao, Feng, Clark, Julian, Hannah, David M., Chapagain, Prem Sagar, Buytaert, Wouter & Cieslik, Katarzyna (2020). From present to future development pathways in fragile mountain landscapes. Environmental Science & Policy 114: 606-613.
• Cieslik, Katarzyna, Dewulf, Art & Buytaert, Wouter (2020). Project Narratives: Investigating Participatory Conservation in the Peruvian Andes. Development and Change 51(4): 1067-1097.
• Cieslik, Katarzyna, Shakya, Puja, Uprety, Madhab, Dewulf, Art, Russell, Caroline, Clark, Julian, Dhital, Megh Raj & Dhakal, Amrit (2019). Building Resilience to Chronic Landslide Hazard Through Citizen Science. Frontiers in Earth Science 7: 278.
• Cieslik, Katarzyna, Hudon, Marek & Verwimp, Philip (2019). Unruly entrepreneurs – investigating value creation by microfinance clients in rural Burundi. Oxford Development Studies 47(4): 373.
• Leeuwis, Cees, Cieslik, K.J., Aarts, M.N.C., Dewulf, A.R.P.J., Ludwig, F., Werners, S.E. & Struik, P.C. (2018). Reflections on the potential of virtual citizen science platforms to address collective action challenges: Lessons and implications for future research. NJAS - Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences 86-87(1): 146-157.
• Cieslik, K.J., Leeuwis, C., Dewulf, A.R.P.J., Lie, R., Werners, S.E., van Wessel, M., Feindt, P. & Struik, P.C. (2018). Addressing socio-ecological development challenges in the digital age: Exploring the potential of Environmental Virtual Observatories for Connective Action (EVOCA). NJAS - Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences 86-87(1): 2-11.
• Struik, Paul C., Cieslik, Katarzyna J., Leeuwis, Cees & Dewulf, Art R.P.J. (2018). Preface. NJAS - Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences 86-87(1): 1.
• Paul, Jonathan D., Buytaert, Wouter, Allen, Simon, Ballesteros‐Cánovas, Juan A., Bhusal, Jagat, Cieslik, Katarzyna, Clark, Julian, Dugar, Sumit, Hannah, David M., Stoffel, Markus, Dewulf, Art, Dhital, Megh R., Liu, Wei, Nayaval, Janak Lal, Neupane, Bhanu, Schiller, Arnulf, Smith, Paul J. & Supper, Robert (2018). Citizen science for hydrological risk reduction and resilience building. WIREs Water 5(1): e1262.
• Cieslik, Katarzyna (2018). The quandaries of social entrepreneurship studies – a discursive review of the discipline. Review of Social Economy 76(3): 352.
• Cieslik, Katarzyna & D’Aoust, Olivia (2018). Risky Business? Rural Entrepreneurship in Subsistence Markets: Evidence from Burundi. The European Journal of Development Research 30(4): 693.
• Cieslik, Katarzyna (2016). Moral Economy Meets Social Enterprise Community-Based Green Energy Project in Rural Burundi. World Development 83: 12.

Report

• Barford, Anna & Cieslik, Katarzyna (2019). Making a life: a youth employment agenda. Cambridge University: Murray-Edwards College Report.
• Cieslik, Katarzyna, Giani, Marco, Muñoz Mora, Juan Carlos, Ngenzebuke, Rama Lionel & Verwimp, Philip (2015). Inequality in Education, School-dropouts and Adolescent Lives in Burundi.
• Cieslik, Katarzyna, Giani, Marco, Muñoz Mora, Juan Carlos, Ngenzebuke, Rama Lionel & Verwimp, Philip (2015). Green Energy Project 'Lumiére': Report of the Baseline Survey. UNICEF Burundi Working Paper.