Senior Lecturer in International Relations
Mateja joined the School of International Relations in September 2015. Her research focuses on the role of third-party actors—states and international organisations—in contemporary peace processes and post-conflict reconstruction. She is particularly interested in how shifts in the global order are reshaping conflict management practices and norms, including UN peacekeeping and international mediation.
Mateja currently serves as the Research Lead for the PeaceRep Global Fragmentation project, funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). In this role, she leads a multidisciplinary team of researchers from the Universities of St Andrews and Edinburgh. Together, they are developing the Mediation Events and Negotiators Database (MEND), a pioneering global resource on third-party mediation in violent conflicts.
Mateja currently acts as the Executive Director of the Scottish Council on Global Affairs – the first all-Scotland global affairs institute. She is the founding co-director of the Centre for Global Law and Governance and sits on the Steering Committee of the Institute for Legal and Constitutional Research. She previously worked as a Senior Research Fellow at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) and held post-doctoral fellowships at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), and the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies (IFS). She received her PhD in Politics and International Studies from the University of Cambridge.
Mateja’s academic expertise frequently supports policy-making processes. In addition to her work with the FCDO as part of the PeaceRep consortium, she has previously supported the UN High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations and served on the Advisory Group for the OECD’s States of Fragility 2025 report.