The Department of International Relations is a center of excellence for education, training and research.

The Department integrates international relations research with regional expertise in the European Union and the wider European neighborhood, Central and East Asia, and the Middle East. Attention is paid to the evolving role of the EU, Russia, China, and the US in international affairs, the rise of new powers and the role of non-state actors in world politics and the global economy. The Department combines international relations theory, international political economy and security studies with multidisciplinary approaches to the study of transnational, national and sub-national politics.