Prof Lesley Masters

Overview

Lesley Masters currently serves as a senior lecturer and course leader for the MA in International Relations distance learning programme at Nottingham Trent University. Before joining NTU, Lesley held the role of programme lead for International Relations and Diplomacy at the University of Derby, where she had strategic oversight of the IR&D programme. Prior to relocating to the UK, Lesley worked at the University of Johannesburg as a senior researcher and lecturer at the SARChI Chair in African Foreign Policy and Diplomacy. She maintains ties with the SARChI Chair at the University of Johannesburg as a Senior Associate. Additionally, Lesley has experience as the foreign policy and diplomacy manager at the Institute of Global Dialogue. Her research interests primarily focus on foreign policy and diplomacy, particularly examining the roles of actors and politics in global governance. This encompasses climate change diplomacy, where she critically analyzes the geopolitics of climate change negotiations and natural resource governance. Masters’s research delves into the political barriers hindering international agreement and action. Furthermore, her research extends to the analysis of foreign policy, diplomacy, and development cooperation. She is involved in a research project evaluating trends in trilateral development cooperation and the international politics of development diplomacy in various cooperation frameworks, including North-South and South-South Cooperation.