The Institute for Development Studies will celebrate 60 years of existence in October 2025.

The IDS Director of Research, Prof. Paul Kamau, is leading the team in preparations to ensure the day is marked with pomp and colour. The celebrations will include presentations on the institute's history, significant milestones achieved since its inception in 1965, and staff and stakeholders' commitments to ensuring IDS achieves its set goals and objectives moving forward.

Founded on 8th October 1965, the Institute for Development Studies (IDS), University of Nairobi, is the oldest out of 20 such institutes in the world. It is the premier multi-disciplinary and a multi-purpose development research institute in the Eastern and Southern Africa region. The IDS carries out full time research on high priority areas of social-economic development in Kenya, Africa and the world in general.

The Institute has been home to several Nobel Laureates and world-renowned scholars. These include James Tobin, winner of Nobel Prize in Economics (1981); Joseph Stiglitz, Winner of Nobel Prize in Economics (2000); Michael Todaro, the development economist who authored the Todaro Migration Model; James Coleman, a world-renowned sociologist; Bethwell Ogot, a world renowed historian and co-founder of IDS; and Charles Okidi, the first African recipient of the Elizabeth Haub Prize in Environmental law (1984), the highest Global award in environmental law. Many other international scholars started and built their academic careers at the IDS.

The IDS research, teaching and training priorities are framed into four broad themes:

• Globalisation, localization and development;
• Population, environment and sustainable livelihoods;
• Institutions, governance and development; and
• Social inclusion and identity.