Dr. Esther Miedema is a lecturer in International Development Studies MSc programme at the Department of Geography, Planning and International Development. She is a member of the Governance and Inclusive Development research group. Esther serves as co-director of the AISSR Centre for Social Science and Global health (SSGH), and is affiliated with the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development and the Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique.

Esther is a feminist scholar, focusing on the field of health promotion, and particularly questions of reproductive and sexual health and justice. She obtained her doctorate from the Institute of Education, University College London in November 2013. Prior to this, she worked for the United Nations and in the NGO sector for almost 18 years. She worked for UNESCO in Indonesia, the Philippines and Mozambique, the International Bureau of Education (UNESCO/IBE) in Geneva and the International Institute for Educational Planning (UNESCO-IIEP) in Paris. Esther has obtained numerous collaborative research grants, including the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, German Research Foundation, Liliane Foundation, the Nuffic Orange Knowledge Programme and Oxfam Novib.

Overarching interests in Esther’s research and teaching relate to questions of representation, belonging and the (un)making of imaginaries of development and the 'good life.' In so doing, she examines how different actors subvert and/or (inadvertently) entrench gendered, classed and racialised norms and violence that shape their own and others’ possible lives. Esther’s work has been published in, among other journals, Health Education, Whiteness and Education, Progress in Development Studies and Comparative Education.

Current research projects

• Alternatives to extractivism: attending to ways of being-doing-knowing with the (sub)soil: this  collaborative UvA-VU-UEM inter- and transdisciplinary initiative seeks to contribute to debates on relations of different actors to land and (their) soil in resource-rich areas. We are interested in how political decisions about the (sub)soil may provide opportunities for alternative 'future imaginations' and extractive development models. Our empirical focus began in Mozambique, but is expanding to other resource-rich sites. We work with a team of (Mozambican) artists to enhance the depth of our research and dialogue with academic and non-academic partners.
• Comprehensive Sexuality Education:  beyond controversy? In collaboration with colleagues from the Universities of Kwazulu Natal and New South Wales, I edited a Special Issue (SI) titled ‘Beyond Controversy: international perspectives on sexual and reproductive health education’ (Health Education Journal, 2024). The SI focus on inequalities and challenges to ensure good-quality sexual and reproductive health (SRH) forms a red thread through my ongoing work on SRH. At present, for example, I am collaborating with Netherlands Royal Tropical Institute colleagues Anke van der Kwaak and Marielle Le Mat to develop better understanding of the various forms and modes of resistance to sexuality education in different parts of the world.
• Partnership & Power: the practicalities of decolonization of development aid. In collaboration with various non-governmental organisations in the Netherlands and Belgium, I am exploring how organizational structures, modes of collaboration and contributions to knowledge production can be decolonized. I am collaborating with an illustrator to capture the decolonisaiton trajectory of one particular organization in a bid to accessibly document the complexity of the process and to spark further debate.Bottom of Form

Esther currently teaches the following courses: Intersectional Feminist Engagement with International Development Research, Policy and Practice, and Re-imagining IDS. She supervises (Research) Master Students at the UvA and in the joint UvA-VU Global Health MSc. PhD supervision has focused on candidates examining early marriage, family dynamics and masculinities in the contexts of Pakistan (Nashia Ajaz, completed) and Rashmila Shakya (Nepal).