Joe Devine

Joe Devine serves as a Lecturer in International Development at the University of Bath's Department of Economics & International Development, where he also acts as Country Coordinator (Bangladesh) for the Wellbeing in Developing Countries (WeD) ESRC Research Group. His academic work bridges development economics, anthropology, and political science with a geographic focus on South Asia, particularly Bangladesh.

Devine's research centers on well-being, poverty, and inequality through cultural and political lenses. He examines the everyday politics of NGOs and community organizations, faith-based approaches to development, governance dynamics, and natural resource management among coastal communities. His methodological expertise includes stakeholder analysis, participatory techniques, and qualitative fieldwork, often exploring how policy discourse interacts with grassroots realities in contexts like HIV/AIDS and land redistribution.

His publication record (2017-2025) reveals evolving thematic priorities: early work focused on NGO politics and land redistribution, while recent scholarship emphasizes extreme poverty resilience, religious dimensions of well-being, and inclusion challenges in Bangladesh's development trajectory. Notable contributions include analyses of poverty graduation frameworks, the impact of income-generation programs on nutrition, and the role of faith communities in shaping well-being.

As WeD Country Coordinator, Devine leads Bangladesh-focused research on multidimensional poverty measurement. His teaching portfolio includes core courses on development politics, policy processes, and qualitative methods at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, reflecting his commitment to training future development practitioners through empirically grounded, context-sensitive approaches.