Pro-Vice-Chancellor - Social Sciences

Professor Tony Payne

Tony read history and social and political science at Cambridge, and subsequently studied at the Universities of the West Indies and Manchester, where he received his PhD. He joined the Department of Politics at the University of Sheffield in 1985 and was appointed Professor in 1993. He served as Head of Department for two periods between 1992-5 and 1998-2001.

His principal research interests are the politics of development, global political economy and the politics of small states, with special reference to the Caribbean. He is internationally recognised in this field and is also presently Adjunct Professor in the Department of International Relations at the Australian National University.

Among his many roles outside of the University, he was the chair of the Politics and International Studies sub-panel and deputy chair of the main Social Sciences panel within the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise. He was also until recently the Chairman of the International Advisory Council of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London and has served on the advisory boards of leading research centres at the Universities of Warwick and Manchester.

A prolific writer, Tony has published many books and articles in his various research fields. He was also the founding managing editor of the journal New Political Economy from 1995 to 2005.

In his spare time Tony likes to walk, read novels, watch cricket and relax in the French countryside.