Dr Maísa Edwards holds a Joint PhD in International Relations from King’s College London and the University of São Paulo, an MSc in Global Perspectives from King’s College London, and a BA (Hons) in French and Spanish from University College London.

She is currently a Lecturer in Foreign Policy and Grand Strategy Education in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. Previously, she worked as a Senior Policy Researcher at the think tank ResPublica and at the Lifelong Education Institute, where she contributed to research and projects on education policy.

Dr Edwards’ research sits at the intersection of foreign policy decision-making, diplomacy, cross-regionalism, and maritime security, with a particular focus on South America–Africa relations and the strategic politics of the South Atlantic. Her doctoral work examined Brazil’s engagement with the Zone of Peace and Cooperation of the South Atlantic (ZOPACAS), analysing how this maritime zone shapes regional security governance and informs debates on South–South cooperation.

Her broader research explores how Global South actors conceptualise and implement foreign policy and grand strategy in contexts shaped by postcolonial legacies, shifting power relations, and maritime interconnectivity. She is especially interested in the dynamics of cross-regional diplomacy and the ways regional frameworks such as the ZOPACAS advance evolving understandings of peace, cooperation, and maritime order.

Outside of academia, Maísa is passionate about multilingual and multicultural literature and runs ‘Talk Books With ME’ (@talk_books_with_me) on Instagram, a literary project fostering dialogue across languages and cultures since February 2021.

Research

• Zone of Peace and Cooperation of the South Atlantic (ZOPACAS)
• Brazilian foreign and defence policy (Cold War)
• South Atlantic security
• Brazilian-African diplomatic and defence relations
• Brazilian-Latin American diplomatic and defence relations

Thesis:

EDWARDS, M. (2022). Brazil and the Zone of Peace and Cooperation of the South Atlantic (ZOPACAS): An analysis of the evolution of Brazilian diplomatic and defence relations in the South Atlantic (1986 – 2013). Thesis. Joint International Relations PhD (King’s College London and the University of São Paulo).

PhD supervision

• Principal supervisor: Vinicius Mariano de Carvalho
• Secondary supervisor: Anthony Pereira 

Further details

See Maísa's research profile