The Kuwait Programme on Development, Governance and Globalisation in the Gulf States is a ten year multidisciplinary global research programme. It focuses on topics such as globalisation and the repositioning of the Gulf States in the global order, capital flows, and patterns of trade; specific challenges facing carbon and resource-rich economic development; diversification, educational and human capital development into post-oil political economies; and the future of regional security structures in the post-Arab Spring environment.

The Programme is based in the LSE Department of Government and works closely with the Kuwait Professor of Economics and International Development. Its research directors are Professor Danny Quah and Dr Kristian Coates Ulrichsen. The Programme produces an acclaimed working paper series featuring cutting-edge original research on the Gulf, published an edited volume of essays in 2011, supports post-doctoral researchers and PhD students, and develops academic networks between LSE and Gulf institutions.

At the LSE, the Programme organises a monthly seminar series, invitational breakfast briefings, and occasional public lectures, and is committed to five major biennial international conferences. The first two conferences took place in Kuwait City in 2009 and 2011, on the themes of Globalisation and the Gulf, and The Economic Transformation of the Gulf. The next conference will take place at the LSE in March 2013, on the theme of The Arab Spring and the Gulf: Politics, Economics, and Security.

The Programme is funded by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences. At the time of its launch in 2007, the LSE Director noted: 'We are very grateful to the Kuwait Foundation for this generous pledge. It is an opportunity for the School, our staff and students to broaden and deepen knowledge about Kuwait and the Gulf States.'