Professor Donna Lee

Professor of International Organisations and Diplomacy
University Senior Tutor

Department of Political Science and International Studies

Contact details

Telephone +44 (0)121 414 7681

Telephone (2) +44 (0)121 414 7452

Fax +44 (0)121 414 3496

Email d.lee.3@bham.ac.uk

Department of Political Science and International Studies
School of Government and Society
Muirhead Tower
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston, Birmingham,
B15 2TT, United Kingdom

About

Professor Donna Lee is currently University Senior Tutor on a 0.8 secondment from the department, 2011-2014. In this role she provides strategic leadership at University level on issues related to academic and personal tutoring and the student experience. She Chairs the Advisory Board of the university's new Academic Skills Centre, and is a member of the University Education Committee, the University Student Access and Progress Committee, the University Leadership Forum, and University Senate. She works closely with the PVC for Education, the Director of Academic Services, the five academic colleges, as well as colleagues the Centre Academic and Learning Development, Planning Office, Academic and Student Administration, Student Admissions, and the Student Guild.

As a research active Professor in the Department, Donna provides research leadership as Director of a number of research groups and projects on economic and commercial diplomacy, small state international political economy, and international trade negotiations and development. She teaches on these subjects, mentors junior and probationary academic staff, and supervises doctoral students.   

Donna recently completed a World Bank funded project with Dr Mark Hampton (Kent University Business School) on the political economy of tourism in small island states, and has recently worked with colleagues in the BISA African and International Relations Research Group on a 2 year ESRC funded workshop series on Africa in International Relations (PI Sophie Harmon, City University). She is also working with numerous colleagues who Lead/Direct overseas Small States Research Centres/Units at the University of Malta, University of Prince Edward Island (Canada), Reunion University (France), and the University of Tasmania to develop a cross-institutional international research institute on Small States. Donna is also working on a project “Embedding Employability in the Political Science and International Relations curriculum” funded (£10, 000) by the Higher Education Academy.   

Donna works closely with her colleague here at Birmingham, Nicki Smith. This year they will work on a new project 'Corporeal Capitalism: Body Matters in Political Economy' to explore the ontological significance of the body to contemporary political economy analysis. The project, led by Nicki, includes a workshop and a proposed special issue of the journal New Political Economy to bring together new research on the embodied nature of political economy by leading political economists from across the globe.   

Donna co-edits the Palgrave Diplomacy & International Relations monograph series and holds numerous positions on editorial boards of international refereed journals and monograph series, particularly in the area of diplomacy. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the European Parliament 2013 Conference “the EU and Emerging Powers”, and a member of the British International Studies Association annual Doctoral Thesis Award Committee, 2012. 

Donna is currently external examiner on the University of Oxford’s Foreign Service Programme

 Listen to Donna’s recent podcast on the future of the WTO’s Doha Development Agenda.

Qualifications

  • 1997 PhD International Political Economy (University of Connecticut, USA)
  • 1985 MA Comparative Politics (Essex University)
  • 1984 BA (Hons) Humanities and Social Studies, CNAA
  • 2005 Certificate in Counselling (University of Birmingham)

Biography

Donna has previously held lectureships at the Universities of Manchester, Leicester and Nottingham.  

She is series editor (with Paul Sharp) of the  Palgrave Diplomacy and International Relations series. She is also a member of the editorial board of the Palgrave Macmillan series Global Public Diplomacy, the Journal of Diplomacy and Economy, as well as the Discussion Papers in Diplomacy published by the Netherlands Institute of International Relations (Clingendael).

Donna was Secretary of the British International Studies Association from 2004-2008, Co-Chair of the Diplomatic Studies section and a member of the Governing Council of the International Studies Association 2005-2010 . Donna was Co-Director, Higher Education Academy subject centre for Politics, Sociology and Anthropology from 2009-2011.

Donna is currently external examiner at Oxford University. She  has also been external examiner at the London School of Economics, University of St Andrews, Coventry University, and Plymouth University. 

Donna has presented at an off-the record Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Seminar on Brazilian, Indian and South African Approaches to multilateralism as well as FCO conferences at Wilton Park. She has also been invited to World Bank and Commonwealth Secretariat Experts Meetings on Growth & Development. She has presented her research to seminars at the World Trade Institute, Commonwealth Secretariat, Canadian Foreign Ministry,  Netherlands Institute of International Relations (Clingendael), and Croatian Foreign Ministry. She was a member of the Doha Development Agenda Taskforce at the Global Poverty Summit in Johannesburg www.povertyorg.com 

Donna has previously held a number of management and senior administrative roles at the University of Birmingham including:

  • Director, Quality Assurance and Enhancement, College of Social Sciences (2009-11)
  • Chair, College Quality Assurance & Enhancement Committee (2009-11)
  • Member, College Doctoral Studies Board (2009-11)
  • Director, College Independent Learner Project Employability Skills in the Social Sciences Curriculum (2009-11)
  • Member, University Quality Assurance and Enhancement Committee (2009-11)
  • Member, University Programme Approval Committee (2009-11)
  • Deputy Head, School of Social Sciences (2003-2008)
  • Chair, Academic Committee, School of Social Sciences (2003-8)
  • Member, Executive Committee, School of Social Sciences (2003-8)

Teaching

Donna received the PSA's Bernard Crick Award for Outstanding Teaching (Main Prize) in 2000 and the University of Nottingham's Lord Dearing Award for Teaching Excellence in 2001.

Donna Lee teaches International Economic Diplomacy and Negotiation (G29)

Postgraduate supervision

Supervises PhD students in the area of economic diplomacy, the political economy of small states,  WTO trade negotiations, and Africa in the world economy. She welcomes applications for well qualified students wishing to pursue doctoral research in any of these areas.

Research

Donna's research interests combine a critical analysis of international political economy with diplomatic studies. In particular she focuses on diplomatic roles in the global economy, the political economy of small states, global and regional trade governance, economic and commercial diplomacy, diplomatic theory, the GATT/WTO system & trade negotiations. In recent years her empirical focus has been on African states, as well as small states. In the past I have focused on middle powers, especially the UK , South Africa, and Canada. Her contribution to scholarly debates has been to underline and illustrate the role of (diplomatic) agency in the international economy and global governance, on the flip side to this, the centrality of economic matters to diplomatic practice and theory.

She is co-editor of the Palgrave Diplomacy and International Relations series, and a founding member of the editorial board of a new refereed journal International Journal of Diplomacy and Economy which will launch in summer 2012 with a first issue. She is currently co-editing the second issue on commercial diplomacy to be published in autumn 2012. In this latter editorial work she has begun to explore in more detail the relationship between commercial diplomacy and international entrepreneurship, working with colleagues at the University of Twente Business School.   

She is Director of two School research groups: Diplomacy and negotiation, & Small States. She is also a member of the International Political Economy research group.

Research and academic interests

  • African economic diplomacy
  • WTO Trade negotiations
  • Small States in the International Political Economy
  • Economic and Commercial Diplomacy of Emerging powers
  • Diplomatic Theory and Practice
  • Corporeal Capitalism

Current and recent projects

  • African Actvism in the World Trade Organisation (2007 - 15)
  • The WTO Doha Development Agenda negotiations
  • Small States in the International Political Economy 
  • Small State Diplomacy
  • Commercial Diplomacy & International Business
  • Corporeal Capitalism: Body Matters in Political Economy
  • Change and Transformation of Diplomacy in the UK and Canada

Other activities

Current Administrative responsibilities

  • University Senior Tutor (2011-date)
  • Member, University Education Committee
  • Member, University Progress and Access Committee
  • Member, University Senate
  • Chair, University Academic Skills Advisory Board

Other professional appointments

  • Member, editorial board of the Plagrave Macmillan series Global Public Diplomacy, International Journal of Diplomacy & Economy, and Discussion Papers in Diplomacy published by the Netherlands Institute of International Relations (Clingendael).
  • External examiner, London School of Economics
  • External Examiner, Oxford University

Publications

  • Books

Lee, D Africa in the WTO, Routledge, forthcoming

Lee, D and Sharp, P (eds) (2010) Diplomatic Studies, in R Denemark (ed.) The International Studies Encyclopedia  Vol I  Wiley Blackwell.

Lee, D and Wilkinson, R (eds.) (2007) The WTO after Hong Kong: Progress in, and Prospects for, the Doha Development Agenda, Routledge
(read the Introduction)

Lee, D, Taylor, I and Williams, P.D (eds) (2006) The New Multilateralism in South African Diplomacy, 2006. Palgrave.

Lee, D (1999) Middle Powers in Commercial Diplomacy: British Influence During the Kennedy Trade Round. Macmillan.

  • Recent Articles and Chapters

Lee. D and Smith, N.J (in progress) 'What's Queer about Political Science?'

Lee, D and Grix, J (in progress) 'Soft Power and Global Sport Mega Events: Hosting Strategies of Emerging Powers.'

Lee, D, Hurt, S and and Lorenz, U (forthcoming, May 2013) 'The Argumentative Dimension to EPA Negotiations,' International Negotiation

Lee, D, 'Africa Agency and the Global Trade Regime,' (2013) in S. Harman & W. Brown, African Agency in International Relations, Routledge (in press) 

Lee, D and Ruel, H (2012) 'Introduction: Commercial Diplomacy and International Business' in H. Ruel (ed.) Commercial Diplomacy and International Business: A Conceptual and Empirical Exploration, Emerald Publishing http://www.emeraldinsight.com/books.htm?issn=1877-6361&volume=9  

Lee, D (2012) 'Poverty and Cotton in the DDA' in R Wilkinson & J Scott (eds.) Trade , Poverty and Development: Getting Beyond the WTO's Doha Deadlock Routldege.

Lee. D (2012) ‘Global Trade Governance and the Challenges of African Activism in the Doha Development Agenda Negotiations’ Global Society, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 81-99  

Lee, D and Hocking B (2011) ‘Diplomacy’ in Walter Carlsnaes et al (eds.) IPSA Encyclopedia of Political Science.  Sage.

Lee, D  and Smith, N (2010) ‘Small State Discourses in the International Political Economy’ Third World Quarterly, Vol 31, No.7.

Lee, D and Hocking, B (2010)  ‘Economic Diplomacy’ in Robert A. Denemark (ed.) The International Studies Encyclopedia, Vol. II, pp 1216-1227. Wiley Blackwell.

Lee, D (2009) 'Bringing an Elephant into the Room: African Diplomacy in the Doha Development Agenda Negotiations' in A. Cooper and T. Shaw (eds.) Small State Diplomacies, Palgrave. 2nd Edition currently in press.

Lee, D et al (2009) ‘New Directions in International Relations and Africa’ Editorial to Special Issue,  The Roundtable: Commonwealth Journal of International Studies, Vol 98, No. 402, pp 263-267

Lee, D., and Smith, N (2008) 'The Political Economy of Small African States in the WTO' The Round Table, Vol 97, No. 395.

Lee, D., and Hocking, B (2007) 'The Diplomacy of Proximity and Specialness: Enhancing Canada's Representation in the United States' Hague Journal of Diplomacy Vol 1. No. 1

  • More publications

Lee, D et al (2009) ‘New Directions in International Relations and Africa’ Editorial to Special Issue, The Roundtable: Commonwealth Journal of International Studies, Vol 98, No. 402, pp 263-267

Lee, D., and Hocking, H (2008) Change and Innovation  in Diplomacy: The Canadian and UK Experience Final Report for the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Government of Canada and the Foundation for Canadian Studies in the UK.

Lee, D (2007)  ‘The Cotton Club: The Africa Group in the Doha Development Agenda’ in Donna Lee & Rorden Wilkinson (eds.) The WTO after Hong Kong (Routledge) pp.137-154.

Lee, D (2007) ‘The WTO after Hong Kong: Setting the scene for understanding the Round’ (with Rorden Wilkinson) in Donna Lee & Rorden Wilkinson (eds.) The WTO after Hong Kong (Routledge). pp. 3-25.

Lee, D, Taylor, I and Williams P. D (2006) ‘Conclusions: Reflections on a Decade of Multilateral Diplomacy’ in Donna Lee, Ian Taylor & Paul Williams (eds.) The New Multilateralism in South African Diplomacy (Palgrave)  pp 205-217

Lee, D (2006) ‘South Africa in the WTO’ in Donna Lee, Ian Taylor & Paul Williams (eds.) The New Multilateralism in South African Diplomacy (Palgrave)  pp.51-77.

Lee, D, Smith, N and Pace, M (2005)  ‘Size Matters: Small States and International Relations’   International Studies Perspectives (pieces on our craft),  Vol, 6. No3.

Lee, D (2004) 'The Growing Influence of Business in UK Diplomacy', International Studies Perspectives, Vol. 5, No. 1.

Lee, D., and Hudson, D (2004) 'The Old and new Significance of Political Economy in Diplomacy', Review of International Studies, Vol. 30, No. 3.

Lee, D (2004)    ‘Understanding the WTO Dispute Settlement System’ in B Hocking & S McGuire (eds.) Trade Politics 2nd edition. (Routledge)

Lee. D (2004) ‘Multilateral Trade Negotiations: The Final Phase of the Kennedy Trade Round’, DSP Discussion Papers, No. 46. (Leicester: Centre for the Study of Diplomacy)

Lee, D and Hamill, J (2001)  South African Diplomacy in the Post-Apartheid Era: An Emergent Middle Power?, International Relations Vol. 15. No. 4  pp. 33-59

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