The Institute of Development Studies (IDS) is a research and learning organisation affiliated with the University of Sussex in Brighton, England, and based on its campus in Falmer, East Sussex.

The previous director, Melissa Leach, was social anthropologist and professorial fellow at IDS, who succeeded Lawrence Haddad in 2014.

[1] Leach's recent work has explored the politics of science and knowledge in policy processes linked to environment and health; cultural and political dimensions of vaccine delivery; medical research trials, emerging infectious diseases, and ecology-health linkages.

[14][15] IDS has engaged in teaching since 1973 when the first MPhil course in development began.

[16] Currently it teaches at postgraduate and doctorate level and has been awarded accreditation for its teaching programme by the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI).