Peter Evans becomes director of U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre

Dr Peter J Evans will become the new director of the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre at the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) from 16 December 2021.

“I’m thrilled to be joining U4 as Director, being part of such a globally renowned team, and steering U4’s work through a third decade”, says Peter J Evans.

Understanding and tackling corruption has been a thread running through his career in policy, practice and research, including 20 years spent in Tanzania, India, Malawi, and Bangladesh.

“My approach to governance problems combines the technical and the political, and this underpins the ‘ACE’ research programme that I had the privilege of designing and leading since 2014. I’m looking forward to a new chapter with U4 – and taking a higher profile role in the global fight against corruption,” he says.

Peter Evans is a governance specialist with 25 years of wide-ranging experience and expertise across international development and social research. He comes to U4 from a position as Team Leader of the Governance, Conflict, Inclusion and Humanitarian Research Team and the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), formerly known as the Department for International Development (DFID).  In this role he designed and has led the Anti-Corruption Evidence (ACE) programme, which has secured a global profile for its problem focused, politically informed research to make Anti-Corruption efforts more effective.  

“We are very pleased to see Peter Evans join the U4 Centre. His extensive experience from work in the interface between research, policy and practice is a huge asset for the further development of the Centre and of CMI as a whole,” says CMI Director, Ottar Mæstad.

Peter Evans holds a PhD in medical geography. He is both a governance and social development specialist and a proven leader with a strong track record for innovation and delivering real world impact.

Evans shoulders the leadership of the U4 Centre as it enters its third decade in operation and embarks on the implementation of its 2022-26 strategy. He succeeds Arne Strand, who has led the Centre since 2016.

The U4 Centre is part of CMI, an independent development research institute. The institute generates and communicates research-based knowledge to promote global development and justice.