Associate Professor Dr Deborah Goodwin OBE

Dr Deborah Goodwin will be joining the Q-Step team in September 2019 to deliver two exciting new postgraduate modules! Read her thoughts on joining Exeter:

“I am really thrilled to be joining Q-Step and to have the privilege of working with Exeter students from September.

I never imagined a (scary) number of years later that I would re-trace my undergrad footsteps and join the University as an Associate Professor. But the Q-Step ethos and my own have coincided at exactly the right time- we both believe in interactive applied learning and empowering you with dynamic and informed skillsets. I love being an academic, but have always asked ‘so what?’ when I learnt something. I guess this is because I have always worked with student-practitioners who need to know how to do or think, as well as what to do or think.

Fair enough. I’d like to encourage you to think this way too.

Balancing strong academically informed information together with applied learning for ourselves is really important. Being constantly intellectually curious is essential, as is developing our knowledge and skills from what we see and learn.

My new Modules will do just this. We will immerse ourselves in our subject matter, and you will be empowered to make the knowledge and experiences your own. The world of negotiation and conflict resolution is fascinating, frustrating, complex and ambiguous. If you join me on my courses then we will explore it all together, and you will leave with personal empowerment and useful skills…..and crucially, that important curious mind.”

Biography

Deborah joins the University in September 2019. She was invited to return to her alumna University so that Exeter students can experience and benefit from her considerable knowledge and experience in Negotiation, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution. She is an applied, practical academic whose career has seen her draw upon her considerable academic knowledge to develop applied skills courses and training for student-practitioners. She produces and delivers informative, lively and engaging sessions to build informed skillsets.

Her doctorate is in Negotiation, and she studied for this at the Department of Politics at the University of Reading. Her ground-breaking research in negotiation in conflict contexts has been described as seminal by national and international academics, and as the leading authority in this context.

She focusses her knowledge, research and lecturing to help those who work in difficult and complex environments to build peace and dialogue. She also writes, creates and runs unique training simulations for groups up to 100 strong, which allow delegates to experience complex and ambiguous real-world contexts, and to apply practical frameworks for professional decision-making, problem-solving and negotiating.

In 2009 the United Nations awarded her a Commendation in recognition of her voluntary negotiation work in Cyprus since 2000. This is a rare accolade for a civilian. She estimates she has trained and advised about 10000 peacekeepers to date.

In 2013 she was elected to the Board of the Jean Monnet Association, Paris, and remains the only UK academic ever to have been awarded this distinction. (The Association recognises contributions in the international field of diplomacy).

In 2007 she was named as ‘an extraordinary woman’ working in the field of conflict resolution by PeaceDirect NGO, UK.

She is also a qualified crisis negotiator and was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2017

From September 2019 she is joining the University of Exeter to design and deliver new postgraduate Modules in Applied Negotiation skills and Applied Analytics in a post-conflict environment. Exeter has bestowed an Honorary Associate Professor status on her.

In July 2019 she was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree by the University of Reading. This distinction is in recognition of her significant work in the field of negotiation and diplomacy. She also dedicated this award to all those who work for peace.

Her core motto is ‘Be tough on the problem, not the people’, and stresses she will never stop learning as life and people have so much to teach us.

From Year 19/20 her taught PG Modules are:

'Applied Skills: becoming an effective negotiator' (30 & 15 credit options) Term 1

POLM159 Q-Step Applied Skills: becoming an effective Negotiator (30 credits)

POLM163 Q-Step Applied Skills: becoming an effective Negotiator (15 credits)

'Applied Analytics: understanding self and others in a post-conflict world' (30 & 15 credit options) Term 2

POLM164 Q-Step Applied Analytics (30 credits)-understanding self and others in a post-conflict world

POLM165 Q-Step Applied Analytics (15 credits)- understanding self and others in a post-conflict world