L'analyse du risque de survenue d'événements récurrents est une motivation majeure dans de nombreuses études de recherche clinique ou épidémiologique. En cancérologie, certaines stratégies thérapeutiques doivent être évaluées au cours d'essais randomisés où l'efficacité est mesurée à partir de la survenue d'événements successifs marquant la progression de la maladie. L'état de santé de patients infectés par le VIH évolue en plusieurs étapes qui ont pu être définies par la survenue d'événements cliniques successifs.Ce travail de thèse porte sur les modèles de régression du risque pour l'analyse de la survenue d'événements successifs. En pratique, la présence de corrélations entre les temps d'attente séparant les événements successifs est une hypothèse qui peut rarement être écartée d'emblée. L'objectif de la thèse porte sur le développement de modèles de régression permettant d'évaluer une telle corrélation. Dans ce cadre, la méthode le plus souvent utilisée suppose que la corrélation entre les délais successifs a pour origine une hétérogénéité aléatoire, non observée, entre sujets. Le modèle correspondant définit le risque instantané individuel en fonction d'un terme aléatoire, ou « fragilité », de distribution gamma et dont la variance quantifie l'hétérogénéité entre sujets et donc la corrélation entre délais d'un même sujet. Cependant, l'utilisation de ce modèle pour évaluer l'ampleur des corrélations présente l'inconvénient de conduire à une estimation biaisée de la variance de la fragilité.Une première approche a été définie pour deux événements successifs dans une échelle de temps « par intervalles », c'est-à-dire où le risque est exprimé en fonction du temps écoulé depuis l'événement précédent. L'approche mise au point a été obtenue à partir d'une approximation du risque de second événement conditionnellement au premier délai dans un modèle à fragilité pour plusieurs distributions de fragilité. Une seconde approche a été définie en échelle de temps « calendaire », où le risque est exprimé en fonction du temps écoulé depuis le début du suivi du sujet. L'approche retenue a été obtenue à partir d'une approximation de l'intensité conditionnelle au passé dans un modèle à fragilité. Dans les deux échelles de temps, l'approche mise au point consiste à introduire une covariable interne, calculée sur le passé du processus, qui correspond à la différence entre le nombre d'événements observés pour le sujet sur la période passée, et le nombre attendu d'événements pour ce sujet sur la même période compte tenu de ses covariables externes. Une revue de la littérature des études de simulations a montré que le cas d'une hétérogénéité dans la population face au risque d'événement était souvent envisagé par les auteurs. En revanche, dans beaucoup d'études de simulations, le cas d'un risque dépendant du temps, ou d'une dépendance entre événements, n'étaient pas considérés. Des études de simulations ont permis de montrer dans les deux échelles de temps considérées un gain de puissance du test mis au point par rapport au test d'homogénéité correspondant au modèle à fragilité gamma. Ce gain est plus marqué en échelle de temps par intervalles. Par ailleurs, dans cette échelle de temps, le modèle proposé permet une amélioration de l'estimation de la variance de la fragilité dans le cas d'une hétérogénéité faible ou modérée, plus particulièrement pour de petits échantillons.L'approche développée en échelle de temps par intervalles a été utilisée pour analyser les données d'une cohorte de patients infectés par le VIH, montrant une corrélation négative entre le délai entre infection et première manifestation mineure d'immunodéficience et le délai entre première manifestation mineure d'immunodéficience et stade SIDA déclaré. / The risk analysis for the occurrence of recurrent events is a major concern in many clinical research studies or epidemiological studies. In the field of oncology, therapeutic strategies are evaluated in randomised clinical trials in which efficacy is assessed through the occurrence of sequential events that define the progression of the disease. In HIV-infected patients, the infection evolves in several stages that have been defined by the occurrence of successive clinical events. The frame of this work is the regression models for the risk of multiple successive events. In practice, the hypothesis of existing correlations between the inter-event times cannot be a priori discarded. The aim of this work is to develop a regression model that would assess such correlations. In this setting, the most common method is to assume that correlations between inter-event times are induced by a random, unobserved heterogeneity across individuals. The corresponding model defines the individual hazard as a function of a random variable, or " frailty ", assumed to be gamma-distributed with a variance that quantifies the heterogeneity across individuals and incidentally the correlations between inter-event times. However, the use of this model when evaluating the correlations has the drawback that it tends to underestimate the variance of the frailty.A first approach was proposed for two sequential events in a "gap-timescale", in which the risk is defined as a function of the time elapsed since the previous event. The proposed method was derived from an approximation of the risk of second event given the first time-to-event in a frailty model for various frailty distributions. Another approach was defined in "calendar-time", in which the risk is expressed as a function of the time elapsed since the beginning of the subject's follow-up. The proposed method was derived from an approximation of the intensity conditional on the past in a frailty model. In both timescales, the method that was developed consists in including in the model an internal covariate, that is calculated on the history of the process, and that corresponds to the difference between the observed number of events and the expected number of events in the past period given the individual's other covariates.A review of the literature involving simulation studies showed that when defining the generation processes, most authors considered the case of heterogeneity in the population. However, in many simulation studies, only constant hazards are considered, and no event-dependence is introduced. Simulations studies showed that in both timescales, the test of the effect of the internal covariate in the proposed model proved more powerful that the usual test of homogeneity in the gamma frailty model. This gain of power is more noticeable in gap-time. Additionally, in this timescale, the proposed model provides a better estimation of the variance of the frailty when heterogeneity is low or moderate, more particularly in small samples.The method developed in gap-time was used to analyse data from a cohort of HIV-infected patients. It showed a negative correlation between the time from infection to first minor manifestation of immunodeficiency and the time from first minor manifestation of immunodeficiency to AIDS. The method developed in calendar-time was used to study the occurrence of repeated progressions and severe toxicities in a clinical trial for patients with advanced colorectal cancer. In this example, the method corroborated the results obtained with a gamma frailty model which showed a significant heterogeneity.

Dans ma thèse, j'utilise des méthodes récentes de microéconométrie appliquée pour évaluer les impacts des événements majeurs (catastrophe de Fukushima Daiichi, Jeux Olympiques), de l'infrastructure (utilisation des terrains urbains, éoliennes) et des institutions dans les systèmes éducatifs) sur le bien-être individuel, la santé et le comportement. Tout au long de mes articles, j'utilise des données longitudinales sur les ménages, en partie fusionnées avec des données spatiales très détaillées, tout en accordant une attention particulière à l'identification des effets causaux. / In my dissertation, I am using recent methods in applied microeconometrics for policy and programme evaluation to evaluate the impacts of major events (the Fukushima Daiichi disaster, the Olympic Games), infrastructure (urban land use, wind turbines), and institutions (instructional time in education systems) on individual well-being, health, and behaviour. Throughout my papers, I am using longitudinal household data, partly merged with highly detailed spatial data, while paying particular attention at identifying causal effects.

O presente estudo teve como objetivo investigar o papel da dependência/contingência entre um efeito programado no ambiente (EC) e um padrão coordenado de espaçamento entre as respostas de três participantes (CCE), em um procedimento de culturante livre e delineamento experimental intrassujeito. Foram realizados 3 experimentos, dos quais participaram 24 estudantes universitários, divididos em 8 tríades. A tarefa consistiu no clique sobre uma imagem apresentada em uma tela de computador. Foram programados ECs para um dado espaçamento entre os cliques dos participantes. Nos Experimentos 1 e 2, adicionalmente, foram programadas consequências individuais para o clicar, e as manipulações na relação de dependência entre CCEs e ECs foram avaliadas a partir de uma linha de base operante. O Experimento 1 isolou os efeitos da dependência do EC dos efeitos de sua intermitência, frequência e distribuição, comparando condições de apresentação contingente do EC (em intervalos variados - VI) e condições de apresentação não contingente desse evento (em intervalos de tempo variado - VT). O Experimento 2, por sua vez, comparou os efeitos da apresentação de ECs em VT com os efeitos da suspensão da apresentação desse evento (extinção convencional EXT). O Experimento 3, finalmente, comparou os efeitos de EXT e VT, sem que houvesse outra contingência programada, adicionalmente à contingência CCE-EC (metacontingência). Os resultados dos três experimentos evidenciaram o estabelecimento e manutenção de CCEs em função dos esquemas de apresentação do EC. Comparações entre esquemas contingentes e não contingentes demonstraram a importância da dependência/contingência do EC para o estabelecimento e manutenção sistemática de CCEs. Comparações entre EXT e VT evidenciaram que a apresentação não contingente de ECs gera efeitos assistemáticos na manutenção de CCEs. Enquanto as condições de EXT geraram rápida extinção das CCEs, as condições de VT geraram efeitos diversos: ora extinção, ora manutenção de CCEs por longos períodos. Foram observadas similaridades entre processos de seleção, manutenção e extinção de operantes e de culturantes. Em conjunto, os resultados desse estudo fortalecem e estendem as informações já produzidas sobre relações funcionais entre termos de uma metacontingência e sobre as similaridades entre processos de evolução de operantes e de culturantes. Adicionalmente, esse estudo dá um passo além na investigação das unidades mínimas e das condições necessárias ao estabelecimento e manutenção de culturantes. Aponta-se para a necessidade de maiores investigações sobre os efeitos de diferentes esquemas de apresentação do EC e maior refinamento do conceito de metacontingência, de modo a evidenciar a independência entre contingências operantes e metacontingências e, assim, orientar programações experimentais que possibilitem análises mais efetivas para a compreensão da contingência programada entre CCEs e ECs / This study aimed to investigate the role of dependency/contingency between a programmed environmental effect (CE) and a coordinated pattern of spacing between responses of three participants (IBC), in a free culturant procedure and a single-subject experimental design. Were performed three experiments, participated 24 undergraduate students divided into 8 tryads. The task consisted in clicking on an image presented on a computer screen. Were programmed CEs contingent to a specific spacing pattern between participants clicks. Also, in experiments 1 and 2 were programmed individual consequences to clicking, so the manipulations in the dependency relation between CEs and IBCs were analyzed upon an operant baseline. Experiment 1 isolated the effects of CE dependency from its intermittency, frequency, and distribution effects, comparing conditions of contingent CEs presentations (in variable intervals VI) and noncontingent CEs presentations (in variable time VT). Experiment 2, in turn, compared the effects of CEs presentations in VT, and CEs suspension effects (conventional extinction EXT). Experiment 3, finally, compared effects of EXT and VT, with no other programmed contingency besides the CCE-EC contingency. The results of the three experiments showed establishment and maintenance of IBCs as a function of CEs schedules. Comparison between contingent and noncontingent schedules of CEs presentations demonstrated the importance of dependency/contingency of CE for establishment and systematic maintenance of IBCs. Comparison between EXT and VT demonstrated that noncontingent presentation of CEs generates unsystematic effects in IBCs maintenance. While EXT conditions generated rapid extinction effects, VT conditions generated diverse effects: sometimes extinction, sometimes maintenance of IBCs for long periods. Similarities were observed between the processes of selection, maintenance, and extinction of operants and culturants. As a whole, these results strengthen and extend the amount of information about functional relations between metacontingency units and about similarities between operant and culturant evolution. Additionally, this study goes a step further into the investigation of minimal units and necessary conditions for the establishment and maintenance of culturants. It is pointed out the necessity of further investigation on the effects of different schedules of CEs presentations and further refinement of the metacontingency concept, making evident the independency between operant contingencies and metacontingencies, thus, guiding experimental arrangements that enable more effective analysis for understanding the contingency scheduled between IBCs and CEs

A busca pela realização dos Jogos Olímpicos parece ter conduzido e orientado as principais determinações da política urbana do município do Rio de Janeiro nos últimos anos. Ao finalmente conquistar a oportunidade de sediar o megaevento esportivo, esse tem sido utilizado como instrumento para se colocar em prática e legitimar um processo de (re)ordenação do território, através de grandes intervenções urbanas, com aporte de recursos públicos de todos os níveis governamentais. O trabalho tem como objetivo analisar e discutir as propostas territoriais do Plano Olímpico \"Rio 2016\", em primeiro lugar, através da investigação sobre sua relação com os instrumentos de planejamento e política urbana do município - Plano Diretor e Plano Estratégico -, considerando que o mesmo não advém de um processo democrático, não se sabendo nem mesmo onde, quando e por quem foi formulado. Segundo, pela reconstituição do processo que lhe deu origem, por meio de uma análise detida dos documentos oficiais e entrevistas realizadas com atores envolvidos, à luz da conjuntura político-administrativa carioca, na tentativa de identificar os sujeitos e interesses relacionados, principalmente à escolha locacional da Barra da Tijuca como região que concentrará a maior parte das instalações olímpicas e consequentemente dos investimentos. E por fim, abordando as intervenções que estão em andamento, os impactos e conflitos delas decorrentes, bem como as principais alterações já realizadas no Plano Olímpico original, procurando sempre apontar processos através dos quais decisões urbanísticas estruturadoras passam ao largo dos mecanismos formais-institucionais e os efeitos decorrentes deste modelo de ação sobre o território carioca. / The bid for Olympic Games have oriented then urban policies the city of Rio de Janeiro in the last 20 years. When finally Rio got the opportunity to host the megaevent, it has been used as an instrument to put in practice and legitimize a process of (re)ordering of the territory through major urban interventions, mobilizing investments of public resources of all levels of government. This work aims to analyze and discuss the \"Rio 2016\" Olympic Plan\'s territorial proposals, focusing its relationship with local instruments of planning and urban policy - Master Plan and Strategic Plan - considering that the proposals did not emerged from a democratic process, being even unknown, when and by whom it was defined. Second, the work also reconstiturs the decision making process, through a careful analysis of official documents and interviews with key actors, in an attempt to identify the subjects and interests related to the locational choice of Barra da Tijuca - the region which will concentrate most of the Olympic facilities and hence investment. Finally, we address the process of implementation of the Olympic plans, its impacts and then conflicts arising from them, as well as major changes already made in the original Olympic Plan, identifying processes by which urban decisions pass by the formal-institutional mechanisms and the effects of this intervention model on the territory of Rio.

A dissertação apresenta um estudo das chuvas extremas relacionadas a quatro desastres naturais ocorridos no Brasil: as inundações do Vale do Itajaí SC, em novembro de 2008, a inundação histórica de São Luís do Paraitinga - SP, em janeiro de 2010, as inundações ocorridas no Vale do Mundaú AL, em junho de 2010 e as inundações e escorregamentos da Região Serrana - RJ, em janeiro de 2011. As chuvas catastróficas foram analisadas através de estatísticas básicas dos dados dos pluviômetros localizados nas regiões. No Vale do Itajaí, as chuvas registradas nos dias 23 e 24 de novembro foram elevadas, atingindo valores acima de 250 mm. Na estação Blumenau, choveu 243,5 mm e 250,9 mm nesses. Na estação localizada em São Luís do Paraitinga, choveu apenas 64,7 mm no dia 1 de janeiro de 2010, quando ocorreu a inundação. Porém, foram observados 205,7 mm em uma das estações localizadas em Cunha. Nesse caso, o elevado volume precipitado na cabeceira da bacia deflagrou as inundações observadas nos dois municípios. No Vale do Mundaú e Paraíba, choveu cerca de 200 mm no dia 5 de junho, em duas das seis estações analisadas. O elevado volume precipitado no dia 5, combinado com as chuvas ocorridas no período de 17 a 19, pode ter causado as inundações observadas no dia 19 nessas bacias. Os dados indicaram que, na Região Serrana do RJ, as inundações e escorregamentos foram causados pela chuva extrema ocorrida nos dias 11 e 12 de janeiro de 2011, que ultrapassou 270 mm no intervalo de 24 h em uma das estações. As chuvas acumuladas nos meses que antecedem os eventos e a alta declividade contribuíram para a saturação do solo e posteriores escorregamentos. Os eventos pluviométricos, classificados através do SPI resultaram, na maioria das estações, chuvas severas ou chuvas extremas A vulnerabilidade das regiões, onde inúmeras habitações estão localizadas em áreas de risco, também foi determinante para que os desastres acontecessem. Outros eventos de magnitude elevada foram observados anteriormente, o que indica que estes eventos são característicos das regiões estudadas. Constatou-se que as regiões analisadas estão sujeitas a chuvas extremas com frequência relativamente alta, muito embora tenha sido observado, em alguns casos, certo grau de raridade nesses eventos. Portanto, nessas áreas devem ser adotadas medidas regionais no sentido de disciplinar o uso e ocupação do solo e reduzir os riscos dos desastres. É fundamental buscar medidas de adaptação da ocupação dessas áreas, considerando o regime hidrológico dessas regiões. / The paper presents a study of extreme rainfall related to four natural disasters occurring in Brazil: the floods in Itajaí Valley, state of Santa Catarina, in November, 2008; the historic flood in São Luís do Paraitinga, state of São Paulo, in January, 2010; the floods in Mundaú Valley, state of Alagoas, in June, 2010; and the floods and landslides in the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro in January, 2011. The catastrophic rains were analyzed through basic statistical data collected from rain gauges located in those regions. In Itajaí Valley, extremely high rainfalls exceeding 250 mm were recorded on November 23 and 24. In Blumenau, it rained 243.5 mm and 250.9 mm on the same days. At the station located in São Luís do Paraitinga, it rained just 64.7 mm on January 1, 2010, when the flood occurred. However, 205.7 mm were observed in one of the stations located in Cunha. In this case, the high volume of rainfall at the headwater of the basin triggered flooding observed in these two cities. In the valleys of Mundaú and Paraíba, it rained nearly 200 mm on June 5, in two of the six stations analyzed. The high volume of rainfall on June 5, combined with the rains from the 17th to the 19th, may have led to the floods in these basins on June 19. The data indicated that, in the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro, the flooding and landslides were caused by massive rainfall on January 11 and 12, 2011, which exceeded 270 mm within a period of 24 hours in one of the stations. The rainfall accumulated in the months prior to the events and the high sloping land contributed to soil saturation and subsequent landslides. The rainfall events, sorted through the SPI, resulted in severe or extreme rains in most of the stations. The vulnerability of the regions, which include many homes located in hazardous areas, was also crucial for the disasters to happen. Other major events were previously observed, which indicates that these events are characteristic of the studied regions. It was noted that the analyzed regions are subject to extreme rains with a relatively high frequency, although in some cases these events have demonstrated to be somewhat rare. Therefore, in these areas, region-based measures should be adopted with a view to regulating the use and occupation of the soil and reducing risk of disasters. It is essential to seek adaptation measures of occupation of these areas, considering their hydrological regime.

Fire is a natural process that has existed on our planet for more than ~350 million years, and is a process that continues to influence our everyday lives. On Earth, a relationship exists between the process of combustion and the natural functioning of the Earth system. Here, the process of combustion has been implicated in playing an essential role for life on Earth, where natural Earth system processes have been shown to influence ignition probability, fire spread and fire behaviour, and where fire can provide a variety of feedbacks, to the Earth system over different timescales. Over medium timescales of decades to hundreds of thousands of years, the likelihood and behaviour of fires are controlled by regional climate changes and vegetation type, whilst the occurrence of fire can play a crucial role in influencing biome persistence and development. Over long timescales (hundreds of thousands to multi-million year), the components influencing the probability of fire and fire behaviour not only involve processes occurring over local and regional spatial scales, and over short and medium timescales, but also long term processes occurring globally, such as changes in atmospheric oxygen concentration and the evolution of vegetation. Across these timescales in Earth’s past, combustion has been shown to impact global ecosystems, climate and the carbon cycle by generating feedbacks that influence Earth’s biogeochemical cycles. However, it is clear that our understanding of the role that fire plays in the Earth system, although improving is still developing. This thesis provides an analysis of these Earth system - fire relationships and feedbacks across medium and long timescales in deep time, in order to understand the role that fire may have played and what the record of fire can tell us about the functioning and re-equilibrating of the Earth system during and after significant carbon-cycle perturbation events occurring in Earth’s deep past. The results presented in this thesis contribute what is believed to be the first fossil evidence that rising atmospheric oxygen and fire feedbacks may have aided in the termination of a significant carbon-cycle perturbation event, termed the ‘Toarcian oceanic anoxic event’ that occurred ~183 million years ago during the Jurassic period, and the return of the Earth system towards ‘background functioning’. This thesis also provides an analysis of the record of wildfire in the form of fossil charcoal across the initiation of an anoxic event that occurred ~93 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period. The results illustrate that CO2 - climate driven changes in wildfire activity can be observed across medium timescales even during times of significant carbon-cycle perturbations, and modelled high atmospheric oxygen concentrations. These results illustrate how hypothesized changes in the hydrological cycle, and likely moisture content of fuel, appear to be the dominant control on wildfire activity during this period. Finally, this thesis provides an analysis of charcoal abundance variations occurring across natural, orbitally forced cycles, termed the Milankovitch cycles. The results presented illustrate that natural variations in charcoal abundance are possible over intermediate timescales within the geological record. This thesis therefore illustrates a need to take into consideration and incorporate ‘natural background’ fluctuations in fire activity occurring over medium timescales, when analysing and predicting past and future climate change patterns.

As a Higher Education (HE) lecturer in the United Kingdom (UK), I have taught Leisure students and supported their transition into placement work and graduate employment. This experience has made it clear to me that some students and graduates are not fully equipped to deal with the extensive customer demands placed on them in the workplace. The aim of this study is to analyse the skills and knowledge needed by graduates from Leisure courses to deal with real-world customer service encounters. A theoretical framework on skills, knowledge, education frameworks and employer requirements was used to identify what graduates might need in industry work and this was tests by gaining primary data from Leisure graduates. Critical incidents were gathered and interviews were conducted with five recent graduates and one current student from Leisure courses in Manchester. The data includes 57 critical incidents related to customer demands that the participants faced during service encounters in leisure roles; it also includes six semi-structured interviews on whether the participants felt their education prepared them to meet these demands. This study analyses the data using a theoretical framework of current publications and includes the theories of Soft Skills, Co-creation, Co-production, Emotional Labour, Aesthetic Labour, Sexualised Labour, Intercultural Sensitivity and Service Quality Theory. This study uses an innovative methodology to identify three key findings in support of the research questions. Staffs to staff dynamics and Intercultural Sensitivity are needed in Customer Service Encounter theory to use in Leisure UK Higher Education and fully prepare students for encounters in their graduate employment. These findings offer extensive contributions to current knowledge on theory and leisure education in UK HE to support development of all skills and knowledge needed for customer service encounters. Recommendations are raised to the Quality Assurance Agency (education governing body) and other leisure educators on how they might better educate and prepare their students for customer service encounters in graduate employment.

This thesis conducts empirical analysis on the determinants of migration and remittance sending decisions in Kenya and the impact on the expenditure patterns of households using cross-sectional household survey data. The first empirical chapter explores the factors that influence the subsequent migration decisions of Kenyan siblings using binary logit models. The findings reveal that preceding sibling migrants have a strong negative effect on the probability of migration for other siblings. Evidence in support of migration as a joint household level decision is obtained as preceding sibling and non-sibling migrants are found to exhibit similar effects. Conditional on migrating, siblings are shown to utilize existing sibling networks by moving to the same internal or external destination as preceding migrants. Discrete failure time models are also employed so as to account for any neglected heterogeneity at the household level. Controlling for neglected heterogeneity, the overall effect of preceding sibling migrants is found to be statistically insignificant. However, non-sibling migrants are found to decrease the probability of migrating. The second empirical chapter examines the remittance behaviour of multiple compared to sole sibling migrants, and the motivations of Kenyan siblings in sending remittances to their household of origin. No evidence of selection bias in the decision to remit is detected when a Heckman selection model is estimated. Using probit and OLS models, the presence of other siblings is found to decrease the probability of remitting but to have no effect on the amount of remittances sent. The amount of remittances sent by other siblings is also found to have no statistically significant effect on the remittances sent by a sibling using IV regression methods. In the third empirical chapter, the expenditure patterns of Kenyan households are investigated according to whether the household is a migrant or non-migrant household, and whether a migrant household is in receipt of remittances or not using an Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) approach. The analysis reveals that remitters who are spouses and siblings of the household have higher bargaining power towards the allocation of remittances to physical investments and durable goods, respectively. The expenditure patterns also show that remittances are not pooled together with general income when allocating the household budget towards durable goods and physical investments. In addition, the findings reveal that the reported uses of remittances by Kenyan households contrast with their actual uses. In the fourth chapter, the uses of remittances for the acquisition of physical investments and durable goods are analysed in more detail using IV and bivariate probit models. Remittances are found to be exogenous for the durable goods category but endogenous for physical investments. The evidence obtained is supportive of remittances being used by households to purchase these categories of commodities.

No description available.

Today migrants are increasingly seen as potential ‘philanthropists' or even as the ‘instigators' of development transition in their countries of origin. This thesis explores, via an original multiperspective bottom-up approach, how the discourse of migrants' contribution to development is constructed and put into concrete practice in the case of Moldova. The young republic is one of Europe's lesser-known countries and yet, with its intense recent experience of migration, it presents a fertile territory for in-depth study of the migration–development dynamic, with special reference to the role of migrant associations. More specifically, the heart of the thesis investigates, with a transnational lens, representations and negotiations of migrants' collective development efforts, firstly among migrants, secondly among development actors, and thirdly the aid-relationships between the two. The thesis engages with the literature on the relationship between migrants' transnational development practices and transnational power hierarchies, highlighting the role of international development policy discourses and initiatives from an interdisciplinary perspective. It aims to contribute to the broader theoretical discussion on linkages between transnational collective practices of Eastern European migrants living in EU countries and the development transition in the Eastern European 'neighbourhood'. Using a variety of field methods including multi-sited ethnography, the data collection took place over a period of one year – following the ‘discourse on migrants' contribution to development' in the transnational social field of migrant civil society and in the transnational field of development organisations across seven European countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Moldova, Switzerland and the UK. The findings reveal significant differences between migrants and mainstream development agencies on the issues of Moldova's transformation process, development practices and on the notion of ‘ideal' development partners. Migrants' collective transnational development practices appear as a dynamic process shaped not only by the current and understudied Moldovan migration features and based on various socio-economic and cultural indicators, but also by the country's Socialist past and its marginalised place within Europe. The results also show unexpected relationship patterns between migrants and state institutions and aid agencies, in which the latter two rely on migrant associations to carry out their newly-created migration–development policies and programmes. And an overall discomfort was found among aid-workers in engaging Moldovan migrants as their partners, expressed in double standards applied to migrants in ‘aidland'.