Professor Lee Miles

Lee’s research interests cover several areas and involve research projects across the globe: First, International Crisis Management (ICM) and Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) Presently, his research examines the role of political and policy entrepreneurs in shaping foreign policy management and emergency responses to crises and disasters. He is developing concepts of ‘entrepreneurial resilience’ in international crisis and disaster management. He works in relation to European crisis management and long-standing interests in the Nordic countries. Second, Lee directs major international projects on African disaster management. Three recent projects are indicative. The AFRIGATE project (2017-2018) examined the role of resistance obstacles to effective African disaster management (Cameroon, Ghana and Nigeria). He also then went on to direct the UK Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) sponsored AFRICAB project (2018-21). This project examined single points of failure in African disaster management (Cameroon, Senegal and Sierra Leone) and led to major research findings that have influenced the formation of Sierra Leone's new National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA). AFRICAB produced the key research informed policy deliverables that have helped to improve the skills and capacities of local disaster managers, policy-makers and community leaders covering 1.2 million people in the capital of Freetown. More specifically, Freetown City Council (FCC) introduced a new Minimum Training Competence Requirement in Disaster Management (2020) and a revised Disaster Management Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) (in 2021) that incorporated AFRICAB guidance and deliverables within formal policy frameworks. AFRICAB research and impacts have attracted international attention including debates and discussions at key disaster management related summits of policy-makers and stakeholders, hosted in Nigeria, South Africa, Jamaica, Jordan and the UK, and media attention from national and international outlets. Lee also contributes to another GCRF funded project (known as AFTERCAB) seeking to improve crisis communication on COVID-19 and disaster reporting among journalists in Sierra Leone (as well as Nepal). Lee has co-authored one of the first major surveys of the impact of COVID-19 on journalism and disaster reporting in Sierra Leone in 2021. Alongside these successful activities in developing innovative SPOF diagnostics, Lee further seeks to understand the role of gatekeepers in disaster management and in developing effective crisis simulations to improve 'best practice'.

Third, Lee is also interested in improving disaster management in the Caribbean. Lee coauthored a major report for the World Bank in Caribbean disaster management in 2020 evaluating the preparedness of five island sovereign states. Before this, he also directed the sister PINPOINT project on single points of failure in the Caribbean (2017-19) that sought to improve the resilience of UK Overseas Territories (UK OTs) in the Caribbean using single points of failure techniques.

Fourth, Lee works with academics from sports and event management in furthering the case for stronger resilience awareness in sports and event management. Lee is a co-author of several major studies of crisis and disaster management in sports, including a new book published by Routledge in 2021.

Professor Miles has completed over 20 major external research projects.He continues to be successful, attracting around £1 million of external funding since 2007 for a range of respective projects funded by UNISDR, World Bank, NATO, Nordic Council of Ministers, the European Union, national research councils, national governments and regional authorities. He is a former editor of peer-reviewed international journals, and his research regularly features on national and international media; e.g., he was the recipient of two international media awards for his expert commentary on Hurricanes Irma/Maria in 2018.