A two-day conference bringing together scholars based in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America to share knowledge and ideas about British aid-assisted colonial development in the mid twentieth century.

Speakers: Paul Greenough, Jordanna Bailkin, Barbara Bush, David Clover, Billy Frank, Joseph Hodge, Gerald Hödl, Leigh Gardner, Michael Jennings, Margaret Jones, Gerold Krozewski, Edward Hamilton, Lucy McCann, Zachary D. Poppel and Uyilawa Usuanlele.

Today the history of British aid-assisted colonial development from the early to mid twentieth century is a vibrant area of research. This conference will bring together scholars from around the world who work in this area to exchange knowledge and ideas.

Over two days a series of panels will focus on emerging themes and topics such as health and development, regional experiences and metropolitian perspectives. Papers presented by established scholars and early career researchers will consider the meanings of aid-assisted development, its many practices, and its multiple short- and long-term effects. Besides academic papers, the conference will include workshops on archival sources in the UK on colonial development and a round-table on the implications of the papers presented for development policy today.

A keynote address will be given by Professor Paul Greenough (University of Ohio), a leading expert on the social and environmental history of the modern India, on Friday 1 July. He will also deliver a Public Lecture on the eve of the conference, 30 June, entitled "Natural Disasters in Social Theory and South Asia Practice" which is open to all conference delegates.

The conference will be held on 1-2 July 2011 in the Humanities Research Centre (Berrick Saul Building), University of York. This campus-based venue is a 20-minute bus journey from York train station and a 10-minute bus journey from the centre of York.

The conference is supported by the Department of History and is organised by its British Empire research cluster. Additional financial support has been provided by the Economic History Society, the Wellcome Trust, the Centre for Modern Studies, University of York, and the British Society of the History of Science. For information on registration and a provisional programme, see the website.