QUALIFICATIONS

BA  (Hons) (CNAA), MA  (Essex), PhD (University of Connecticut, USA), Certificate in Counselling (Birmingham).

EMPLOYMENT

2009 - Present, Director of Quality Asurance & Enhancment, College of Social Sciences, University of Birmingham

2008- Present, Associate Professor , Department of Politics & International Studies, University of Birmingham

2005-  2008, Deputy Head, School of Social Sciences, University of Birmingham.

2004 – 2008, Senior Lecturer, Department of Politics & International Studies, University of Birmingham

2002-2004, Lecturer, Department of Politics & International Studies, University of Birmingham

1999-2002, Lecturer, School of Politics, University of Nottingham

1998-1999, Lecturer, Department of Politics, Leicester University

1990-1997, Lecturer, Department of Politics, Manchester Metropolitan University

PROFILE

Professional Activities

Donna Lee is Series Editor (with Paul Sharp) of the  Palgrave Diplomacy and International Relations series

She is a member of the editorial board of International Perspectives, International Studies Review, as well as the Discussion Papers in Diplomacy published by the Netherlands Institute of International Relations (Clingendael).

She Co-Chair of the Diplomatic Studies Section of the ISA, and a member of UK Diplomatic Forum and was Secretary of BISA from 2004-2008.

In 2007 Donna Lee presented at an off-the record Foreign and Commonwealth Seminar on Brazilian, Indian and South African Approaches to multilateralism. She was also invited to participate at a Commonwealth Secretariat seminar ‘Negotiating for Pro-Development Outcomes: Issues and Constraints in Small States’,  as well as an international conference ‘Diplomacy at the Crossroads’ at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations ‘Clingendael’,.

In 2008 Donna Lee was invited to present a paper on ‘African diplomacy at the WTO’ at an international conference on Small State Diplomacy at the University of West Indies. She also gave a lecture ‘Globalisation  & US Trade Policy’ at the University of Southern California.

External Examining

Donna Lee is external examiner at the London School of Economics, Plymouth University and Coventry University.

She has also examined PhD theses at the University of Stirling, Sheffield University, Sussex University, University of London, and Sydney University.

EDUCATION MANAGEMENT

Donna is currently Chair of the College Quality Asurance & Enhancement Committee. She is also Director of the College Indepenedent Learner Project “Employability Skills in the Social Sciences Curricumum”

At University level Donna  is a member of the Quality Assurance and Enhancement Committee, the Programme Approval Committee and the Learning and Teaching Committee. At College level, Donna sits on the Programme Approval Committee and the Learning & Teaching Committee.

From 2005-8 Donna  held a number of management positions at School level in Social  Sciences. She was Deputy Head, Director of Learning and Teaching, Head of Academic Programmes, Director of Student Support and Welfare, and Director of the School Independent Learner Project “Academic study Skills (2006- 2008).

LEARNING & TEACHING

Donna Lee 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.

In 2004 Donna Lee was awarded a Fund for the Development of Teaching and Learning Phase 5 grant of £250,000 (in collaboration with Nottingham Trent University, Lincoln University, and Central Lancashire University) for a 3 year project ‘PREPOL: Developing a pre-entry and initial guidance package for the study of Politics and International Relations’.

Teaching in the Department

International Economic Diplomacy (POLS G28)

RESEARCH

Donna Lee's research interests combine a critical analysis of international political economy with diplomatic studies. In particular Donna Lee focuses on economic and commercial diplomacy, diplomatic theory, the GATT/WTO system & trade negotiations. She is currently working on a number of projects in these areas. These include:

Africa in the WTO

This project explores the growing involvement of the African Group in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in particular, and in the governance of international trade in general. It explores in detail the role and influence of the Africa Group in the WTO over the last decade and traces the emergence of the African countries as major protagonists in the Doha Development Agenda. It analyses the key issues of interest for the Africa Group, efforts at capacity building and the Africa Group’s relations with the major powers and other coalitions in the WTO. I am currently completing a monograph   Africa in the WTO to be published by Routledge in 2009

Small States in the International System

This research explores the influence and experience of small states in the international system.  In collaboration with Nicki Smith I am working on a number of projects relating to small states.  These include small states in the international political economy, small state foreign policy, and small state capitalisms.  Donna is co-founder and convenor  (with Nicki Smith) of the Small States Working Group of the British International Studies Association to facilitate and foster research in this area.

Change & Innovation in Diplomacy: The Canadian and UK Experience (with Brian Hocking)

This project, funded by an £18,000 grant from the Canadian government, focuses on the changing nature of diplomatic systems and in particular the development of complex networks in contemporary Canadian and UK diplomacy. We have recently completed a full report for the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT).

UK Commercial Diplomacy

A British Academy funded project on UK commercial diplomacy which involves the analysis of the history and development of public-private networks in diplomacy. This research demonstrates that the economic elements of diplomacy and the close links between business/merchant groups and diplomats are an integral part of diplomatic practice. The research aims to contribute to contemporary IPE debates about the change in public-private relationships in the global economy and the significance of linkages and interactions between business and government actors in international economic organisations. It also seeks to contribute to diplomatic studies by providing a broader conceptualisation of diplomacy that integrates market and political relations.

PUBLICATIONS

Books

The WTO After Hong Kong (ed. with Rorden Wilkinson) Routledge, 2007.

The New Multilateralism in South African Diplomacy (ed. with Paul Williams & Ian Taylor) Palgrave), 2006.

Middle Powers in Commercial Diplomacy, Macmillan, 1999.

Journal articles and book chapters

‘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, April 2009).

‘New Directions in International Relations and Africa’ (with Will Brown, Sphie Harman, Karen Smith, and Stephen Hurt) Editorial to Special Issue, Roundtable: Commonwealth Journal of International Studies, Vol 98, No. 402.

Diplomacy’ (with Brian Hocking) in Walter Carlsnaes et al (eds.) IPSA Encyclopedia of Political Science (in press).

‘Economic Diplomacy’ (with Brian Hocking) International Studies Association Compendium, Blackwell (in press).

‘The Diplomacy of WTO Accession’ Guest Editor (with Heidi Ullrich), The Hague Journal of Diplomacy Vol 4, No. 1. 

 ‘The Political Economy of Small African States in the WTO’ (with Nicki Smith) The Round Table, Vol 97, No. 395,  April 2008, pp. 259-271.  

 ‘The Diplomacy of Proximity and Specialness: Enhancing Canada's Representation in the United States’ (with Brian Hocking), Hague Journal of Diplomacy Vol 1. No. 1. 2007

The Cotton Club: Africa in the WTO’, in Donna Lee & Rorden Wilkinson (eds.) The WTO After Hong Kong, Routledge, 2007.

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

‘Reflections on a Decade of Multilateralism’ (with Ian Taylor and Paul Williams). in Donna Lee, Ian Taylor & Paul Williams (eds.) The New Multilateralism in South African Diplomacy, Palgrave, 2006

‘Guest Editor: ‘Reflections on the Commonwealth at 40’, Themed Issue, Roundtable: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs, Issue 380, July, 2005.

‘Size Matters: Small States in International Studies’ (with Nicola Smith & Michelle Pace), International Studies Perspectives, Vol. 6, No. 3, 2005.

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

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

'Public Advocates for Private Interests? The Rise of Commercial Diplomacy' (editor), International Studies Perspectives, Vol. 5, No. 1., 2004

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

'Endgame at the Kennedy Trade Round: Political and Economic Risk in Multilateral Trade Negotiations', Diplomacy & Statecraft, vol. 12, no. 3, 2001.
Reprinted in Richard Langhorne & Christer Jonsson Diplomacy Vol. 3 Sage, 2004

‘South African Diplomacy in the Post-Apartheid Era: An Emergent Middle Power?’ (with James Hamill), International Relations, vol. 15, no. 4, 2001.

'Theorising Regional Trade Groups in the Americas', (review essay) Review of International Political Economy vol. 6, no. 1, 1999.

'Middle Powers in the Global Economy: British influence during the opening phase of the Kennedy trade round negotiations, 1962-64', Review of International Studies, vol. 24, no. 4, 1998.

'Multilateral Trade Negotiations: The Final Phase of the Kennedy Trade Round', DSP Discussion Papers, No. 46, 1998, (Leicester: Centre for the Study of Diplomacy).

'Special Relations between the United States, Britain and Canada', (review essay) Borderlines: Studies in American Culture, vol. 3, 1997.

RESEARCH GRANTS

2005: £18,000 (with Brian Hocking) Canadian Government for research into diplomatic change in Canadian and UK national diplomatic systems.

2004: £250,000 Funding for the Development of Teaching and Learning Phase 5 (with Nottingham Trent University, Lincoln University, and Central Lancashire University) for PREPOL: Developing a pre-entry and initial guidance package for the study of Politics and International Relations.

2003: £1900 British Academy Research Grant for research into UK commercial diplomacy.

1995: $5000 Moody Grant, Lyndon B. Johnson Foundation, LBJ Library for research into the Kennedy Trade Round negotiations.

OTHER

Donna Lee supervises a number of PhD students in the area of WTO trade negotiations and economic diplomacy. She welcomes enquiries from potential PhD students wishing to conduct research on economic diplomacy, the WTO system, international trade relations, and diplomatic theory and practice.