About
Leon Sinfield is an ESRC-funded PhD candidate at LSE’s Department of International Relations. His research explores the role of status seeking in Russia's and China's promotion of norms through conflict mediation.
Leon has completed a full year of seminar teaching on the IR202: Foreign Policy Analysis course at LSE. In 2025, Leon spent three months as a visiting researcher at the Shanghai International Studies University and prior to joining the department, undertook internships as a research assistant at the Austrian Institute for International Affairs (OIIP) and the Institute of International Relations Prague (IIR). His analysis of international affairs has been published by The Diplomat, World Politics Review, Council on Geostrategy and the Central European Institute of Asian Studies. Leon holds a BSc in Mathematics and Philosophy and an MA in International Relations, both from the University of Manchester.
Research topic
Status Seeking Through Normative Leadership: Russian and Chinese Neo-Westphalian Conflict Mediation Initiatives
Academic supervisors
Katerina Dalacoura, Chris Alden
Research Cluster affliation
Security and Statecraft Research Cluster
Read Leon Sinfield's CV [PDF]
Expertise
Russian foreign policy; Chinese foreign policy; the international relations of the post-Soviet region and the Middle East.