Paul Collier Keynote Speaker

Expert on the challenges facing developing countries
Adviser to World Bank, IMF and UK government
Best-selling author, "The Bottom Billion" (2007) and "The Plundered Planet" (2010)

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Paul Collier's Biography

Paul Collier is Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government and a Professorial Fellow of St Antony’s College at The University of Oxford.

He is a specialist in the political, economic and developmental predicaments of poor countries. His research covers problems of democracy in societies where incomes are low but natural resources are abundant. He examines the causes and consequences of civil war and the effects of aid.

He has written for the New York Times, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. His research covers the causes and consequences of civil war; the effects of aid and the problems of democracy in low-income and natural resources rich societies; urbanisation in low-income countries; private investment in African infrastructure and changing organisational cultures. His Recent books include The Bottom Billion (2007) which in 2008 won the Lionel Gelber, Arthur Ross and Corine prizes and in May 2009 was the joint winner of the Estoril Global Issues Distinguished Book prize; Wars, Guns and Votes: Democracy in Dangerous Places’(2009); and The Plundered Planet: How to reconcile prosperity with nature (2010). His latest book is Exodus: How migration is changing our world (2013). In 2014, Paul received a knighthood for services to promoting research and policy change in Africa.