Dr Megan Dee

Senior Lecturer

Politics D22 Pathfoot Building University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA

Dr Megan Dee

Contact details

About me

I am a Senior Lecturer in International Politics at the University of Stirling . I take a keen interest in all things international politics, from big picture thinking around the nature of world order, great powers and polarity, to the finer details of multilateral nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament efforts. My research is situated within the broad camp of global governance and international negotiation. My particular interest is in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), multilateral nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament governance and diplomacy, the international non-proliferation regime complex and global nuclear order, effective multilateralism and minilateralism, and diplomatic discourse and framing. I also take a keen interest in the EU as a global security actor, and the role of the WTO in multilateral trade politics. I am an occasional media commentator on topics such as international security, diplomacy, and foreign policy.

My research is closely mirrored in my teaching where I aim to bring the outside international context into the classroom wherever possible through active learning methods like simulations or role-play exercises. I advocate a strong employability focus in my teaching, with emphasis on the transferable skills helpful to a competitive international politics job market. I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. In 2019 I received a student nominated RATE runner-up award for Innovation in Online Teaching as well as a Teaching Impact Award from the University of Stirling for my work on active learning simulations to mimic real world international negotiations. In 2025 I was shortlisted for the RATE Teacher of the Year (Arts and Humanities) Award.

My research broadly addresses international performance, negotiation, and diplomacy in international politics. My ongoing research agenda concerns agency, role, performance, group dynamics and state and non-state actor networks within multilateral negotiation contexts, with special focus on global nuclear politics and diplomacy.

My current research is particularly focused on minilateral group dynamics in the global nuclear order, effective multilateralism in global nuclear weapons governance, and nuclear responsibility as practice.

I also take a keen interest in the EU as a Global Actor, global trade politics, including the politics of the multilateral trading system and WTO, multilateral trade negotiations, and Brexit.

Award

Best Paper Prize, European Foreign Affairs Review

Best Paper Prize for the Paper 'The EU's Performance in the 2015 NPT Review Conference: What went wrong'

Teaching Impact Award

Awarded by the University of Stirling for excellence in teaching innovation.

Recognising and Advancing Teaching Excellence (RATE) Runner-Up Award for Innovation in Online Teaching

Shortlisted for the RATE Teacher of the Year (Arts and Humanities) Award

External Examiners and Validations

External Examiner, European and International Politics MSc, University of Stirling
University of Edinburgh

https://www.ed.ac.uk/…site/view&id=303

Other Academic Activities

P5 Young Professionals Network on Strategic Affairs (P5-YPN)

The P5-Young Professionals Network on Strategic Affairs (P5-YPN) aims to increase long-term interactions and enhance channels of communication between young professionals in the strategic communities of the P5 members to build mutual understanding of respective strategic cultures and contribute to the overarching objective of strategic risk reduction. The network is composed of 15 researchers and academics. Members of the network operate with no official mandate from the P5 allowing them to engage in exchanges of ideas and to present original research findings and analytic work at regular meetings of the network.

Other Project

Working Group on Nuclear Disarmament Negotiations
https://www.uu.se/alvamyrdalcentre/research

Professional membership

British International Studies Association
www.bisa.ac.uk

Political Studies Association
www.psa.ac.uk

The European Network of Independent Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Think Tanks
https://www.nonproliferation.eu/

Trade and Public Policy Network
https://tappnetwork.org/

Professional qualification

Associate Fellow, UK Higher Education Academy (HEA)

Fellow, UK Higher Education Academy (HEA)

Postgraduate Certificate Learning and Teaching in Higher Education

Senior Fellow, UK Higher Education Academy (HEA)

University Contribution

Member of Faculty of Arts and Humanities Ethics Committee

Member of Faculty of Arts and Humanities Athena Swan Working Group

Director of Learning and Teaching, History Heritage and Politics

Programme Director, International Politics
https://www.stir.ac.uk/…tional-politics/

Research projects (1)

Networking nuclear research in Scotland and the UK
PI: Dr Megan Dee
Funded by: The Scottish Council on Global Affairs
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Outputs (28)

Project Report

Networking nuclear research in Scotland and the UK

Dee M, Crilley R & Intropido S (2024) Networking nuclear research in Scotland and the UK. The Scottish Council on Global Affairs. Glasgow. https://scga.scot/2024/10/23/scga-report-networking-nuclear-research-in-scotland-and-the-uk/

Newspaper Article

US-UK 'Special Relationship is under threat

Dee M (2018) US-UK 'Special Relationship is under threat. The Scotsman. 13.07.2018. https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/megan-dee-us-uk-special-relationship-is-under-threat-1-4768114#comments-area

Website Content

Getting to Yes: Media training to dispel the fear

Dee M (2018) Getting to Yes: Media training to dispel the fear. University of Stirling Research and Innovation Blog [Blog post] 27.03.2018. https://researchandinnovationblog.stir.ac.uk/2018/03/27/getting-to-yes-media-training-to-dispel-the-fear/

Book Chapter

The EU in UN Disarmament Forums

Dee M (2017) The EU in UN Disarmament Forums. In: Blavoukos S & Bourantonis D (eds.) The EU in UN Politics: Actors, Processes and Performances. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 165-186. http://www.palgrave.com/br/book/9781349951512

Book Chapter

Standing together or doing the splits? Evaluating European Union Performance in the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty Review Negotiations

Dee M (2017) Standing together or doing the splits? Evaluating European Union Performance in the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty Review Negotiations. In: Tonra B, Young A & Whitman R (eds.) Foreign Policy of the European Union Volume 3: Core Foreign Policies. SAGE Library of International Relations. London: SAGE. https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/foreign-policy-of-the-european-union-4v/book246135#contents

Book Chapter

The European Union and its performance in the NPT negotiations: Consistency, Change and Challenges

Dee M (2015) The European Union and its performance in the NPT negotiations: Consistency, Change and Challenges. In: Blavoukos S, Bourantonis D & Portela C (eds.) The EU and the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons: Strategies, Policies, Actions. The European Union in International Affairs. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 77-94. http://www.palgrave.com/br/book/9781137378439

Teaching

I am the Director for Learning and Teaching for the Division of History, Heritage and Politics. I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA).

I teach the following modules:

Teaching

ICCPP26 (International Negotiation)

This module gives students a critical understanding of how conflict and dispute in the international arena is managed through the process and politics of international negotiation. Students will gain detailed insight into the board, players, stakes and moves of international negotiation and consider the ‘game’ of international negotiation across a variety of negotiation contexts and policy fields. Students will have an opportunity to explore the latest developments in current international negotiation, including through a practical simulation exercise, as well as the challenges now facing diplomacy, negotiation and decision-making in today’s contemporary world.

POLU9EX (The EU in International Politics)
This module engages students to evaluate the role, power and performance of the European Union in the international system. Students will explore how international relations theories can help explain the power and position of the EU as a global actor and empirically engage with the EU as an actor across diverse policy fields. Students will be able to critically analyse the EU’s exercise of global influence and apply that knowledge in evaluating the challenges the EU continues to face in a state-dominated system. In taking this module students will have the opportunity to study this unique global actor at one of the most challenging periods in its history – covering not just the BREXIT negotiations but the implications of that decision for the EU moving forward.

POLU9IN (International Negotiation)
This module gives students a critical understanding of how conflict and dispute in the international arena is managed through the process and politics of international negotiation. Students will gain detailed insight into the board, players, stakes and moves of international negotiation and consider the ‘game’ of international negotiation across a variety of negotiation contexts and policy fields. Students will have an opportunity to explore the latest developments in current international negotiation, including through a practical simulation exercise, as well as the challenges now facing diplomacy, negotiation and decision-making in today’s contemporary world.

POLU9RM (Research Methods in Politics)
This team-taught module prepares students for undertaking a dissertation in Politics, International Politics or PPE. Students are introduced to research design, the literature review, and qualitative and quantitative approaches to analysing data.

POLU9TC (The EU in Times of Crisis)
This module engages you with the theory and practice of EU (dis)integration and decision-making in times of crisis. You will learn about the history of European integration, the crises that have shaped the EU’s development as an institution and actor, and the politics of crisis currently shaping EU decision-making. This module thus takes ‘crisis’ as a core point of focus. It considers how crisis has been addressed within the wider discipline of international politics, and how multiple crises ranging from the financial to political to legitimacy crises, have explicitly impacted the EU. Through case study analyses, you will critically evaluate the EU’s response to crisis across policy fields and issue areas ranging from finance, trade, migration, security, and the contentions surrounding the EU’s democratic deficit.

POLU9X3 (Understanding International Politics)
This module offers an introduction to the theories, concepts, actors, and issues that pervade the analysis and understanding of international politics in the contemporary world. The module begins by familiarising students with the mainstream international relations theories (realism, liberalism, constructivism), as well as core concepts such as power, agency, sovereignty and global governance. Students then turn their focus to global actors and the interactions of the major powers, the role of international organisations and international financial institutions, and non-state actors. After that students will address the world’s most pressing global issues facing today’s global actors including poverty and development, nuclear non-proliferation, environmental protection, and humanitarian intervention. It is a core aim of this module is to develop in students an appreciation of the dynamics of international politics; a mastery of basic concepts and approaches used in the analysis of international affairs as a precursor to more advanced study of international relations theory and practice; the ability to review and critique professional analysts of foreign affairs; and a comprehension of the motives behind and arguments used to explain actor behaviour in the international system.

Research programmes

Research centres/groups

Research themes