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Dr Amanda Caine

Dr Amanda Caine portrait

Lecturer

Dissertation supervisor for MSc GIIDAE and BSc International Development students

Academic tutor for BSc International Development students

Researcher on the PICSA project

Chair of the Staff Student Partnership Group for GIIDAE (Graduate Institute for International Development and Applied Economics)

Areas of interest

  • Digital transformation for international development
  • Digital gender divide
  • Communication power
  • Women’s empowerment
  • Gender and development
  • Digital transformation for climate services for agriculture
  • Digital transformation for health
  • Animal health and rural development

Teaching

  • Module convenor of the International Development: Histories, Institutions and Trajectories module
  • Lecturer on the International Development: Global and Local Issues module
  • Lecturer on the Global Sustainability: Challenges and Prospects module

Research projects

Amanda has been part of the PICSA (Participatory Integrated Services for Agriculture) team at the University of Reading since 2015.  Her contribution to the team is in respect of the digitalisation of the PICSA approach; she has been involved in developing the PISCA App since its early pilot stages in 2015.  Her other role within the PICSA team is to ensure that the approach (particularly the E-PICSA approach using the App) works towards the empowerment of women, supporting their ability to make better decisions in regards to their agricultural production and planning in spite of the gendered challenges that women face in respect of intra-household decision-making and access to and use of information and ICTs.

She is currently working as part of the team on the Digital Climate Services for Smallholder Farmers in Zambia and Malawi (E-PICSA) project funded by GIZ (2022-2024).

She has previously worked on a KfW Bank sponsored project on the Zero Budget Natural Farming’ (ZBNF) in Andhra Pradesh, India.

Amanda has work experience in the following countries: Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Mali, Malawi, Zambia, India.  Her research experience includes using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies.

Background

Amanda spent 25 years as a development practitioner, working for international NGOs including Oxfam GB and Farm Africa.  She is also a chartered accountant by profession.  She helped to set up the Global Alliance for Livestock and  Veterinary Medicine (GALVmed) and is currently a board member of several iNGOs including the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) UK.  Her wide-ranging career has led to her interests in gender, ICTs, agriculture, animal health, mHealth and microfinance.

Amanda completed her PhD at the University of Reading with a theme of “How and Why are Women Using the Internet and is it Providing Them with Opportunities for Empowerment?  A Study Undertaken in and around Kampala, Uganda”.  Her PhD focused on her cross-cutting research themes of gender, women’s empowerment, digitalisation and communication.  In 2021, she joined the University of Reading as an academic and is now a lecturer at the School of Agriculture, Policy and Development in the Department of International Development.

Academic qualifications

  • PhD in International Development from the University of Reading, UK
  • MSc in Development Policy, Practice and Process from the University of Reading, UK
  • MA in Philosophy, Social and Political Science from the University of Cambridge, UK

Selected publications

Caine, A., Clarke C., Clarkson, G., Dorward, P. (2018).  Mobile Phone Applications for Weather and Climate Information for Smallholder Farmer Decision-Making. In: Duncombe, R. (ed). Digital Technologies for Agricultural and Rural Development in the Global South. Wallingford: CABI, pp. 1-13.

Caine, A., Dorward, P., Clarkson, G., Evans, N., Canales, C. and Stern, D. (2015) Review of Mobile Applications that Involve the Use of Weather and Climate Information: their use and potential for Smallholder Farmers. CCAFS Working Paper no. 150. Copenhagen, Denmark: CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS).

Hay-David, A., Wright, J.E.D., Caine, A., Chadwick C., Brown, R. R. (2017). The Use of the Internet by Orthopaedic Outpatients in 2015 compared to 2001. Journal of Trauma and Orthopaedics. Sept (3). pp. 48-49.

Publications

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