Dr Desné Masie is an economist and journalist, specialising in international political economy, and sustainable finance. She is a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa at the LSE. She has held senior roles in academia, media and finance in the UK and South Africa. Dr Masie has advised governments and major multinational corporations on geopolitical risk, as well as on financial sector, economic and public policy. 

She is the Chief Executive of Intelligence Labs, a research and innovation hub for scaling sustainable finance. She was the Chief Economist and Strategist at IC Intelligence, an editorial director of African Business magazine and the executive producer and founder of the African Business podcast. She was a fellow at Wits School of Governance, where she lectured public economics and international development. In the UK, she was the director of the Investec Investment Institute; the corporate relations manager of the Royal African Society; and a senior associate in financial services at Global Counsel. In South Africa she has been a senior editor of the Financial Mail; a consultant at Alexander Forbes Financial Services; and an art director at DDB South Africa. 
Dr Masie is also an accomplished public speaker and commentator. She is the recipient of a Pulitzer Center Grant for her work on carbon markets. She was also a columnist for Business Day and her writing has also appeared in The Guardian, Business Life, International Business Times, Banking Technology Magazine, African Banker, African Arguments, and Vox. She has also provided commentary for BBC Newsnight, Le Figaro, Newsweek, Monocle Radio, the Africa Debate, Innovate Finance, Jersey Finance, and the BBC World Service. 

She holds a PhD in Finance from the University of Edinburgh; MSc in Finance and Financial Law from the University of London; BA Hons in English from the University of South Africa; and BA English and Art History from the University of the Witwatersrand.

Research interests: geopolitics, economics, international finance, carbon markets, nature markets, news media, public affairs  

Region of focus: SADC, Nigeria, Kenya, UK, EU, BRICS, Africa in the international political economy