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This month, let’s meet Hayley WALKER, professor of Global Environmental Negotiation, on the Lille campus. 

Each year, more than 600 professor-researchers on IÉSEG’s Lille campus and Paris-La Défense campus contribute to students’ learning journeys, enhancing their chances of achieving their professional goals and thriving in their careers.  

“Faculty in the Spotlight” is the monthly feature that offers a closer look at IÉSEG’s professors—their background, what they teach, why they joined IÉSEG, fun anecdotes and more. 

Hayley, can you tell us about your background?

I’m from the UK. I did my Bachelor’s degree at the University of Oxford in French Literature and Linguistics. I spent most of my 20s traveling the world and teaching English as a Second Language. I started teaching straight out of university in many places: La Réunion, Vanuatu, Thailand, Chile, and Niger before going to Belgium in 2015 to pursue a Master’s degree in European Studies as well as a PhD. Then, I joined IÉSEG, in 2021. 

What made you want to become a professor?

I knew I liked teaching from all my English teaching experience, but it wasn’t something I specifically planned for my career. As I was finishing my PhD, I saw the job opportunity at IÉSEG, and it made a lot of sense to me because I love both researching and teaching. So, combining the two was very appealing and I’m very happy with the choice I made to join IÉSEG. 

What do you teach at IÉSEG?

My teaching and research are focused on global environmental negotiations. The best-known example is the UN climate change COPs (Conference of the Parties). I studied and I participated in those COPs as part of my PhD fieldwork. There is now a new global treaty that’s being negotiated at the UN to try and combat plastic pollution. I participate in this process as an advisor to the Belgian delegation on procedural matters, and this is what I base a lot of my courses on. 

I teach several courses in the Grande École Program at IÉSEG: Negotiating International Political Agreements in the Bachelor’s cycle, and Diplomatic Negotiation and Sustainable Development in the Master’s cycle. I’ve designed those two courses around my experiences in the field, specifically around the UN environmental conferences. The courses build up to an eight-hour negotiation exercise in which students are given the role of a government delegate. Over the course of these eight hours, they try to negotiate a global treaty on plastic pollution. I think it gives them a really different perspective to what they’ve experienced before. It’s very hands-on and challenging. 

I also co-teach a course on Institutions, Partnerships and Grand Challenges in the Master in Management for Sustainability program, providing some information about how global environmental institutions work, specifically focusing on the role of businesses, organizations, and other non-state actors. We focus on how to navigate these processes to leverage their objectives. 

In addition, I teach a course on the basics of Business Negotiation in the Grande École Program Bachelor’s cycle and in the International MBA program. They’re both basic introductions to negotiation courses but I equally enjoy teaching business negotiation to beginners as you’re starting with a blank canvas and you just see how much they learn so quickly. 

Can you tell us more about the teaching methods you use?

For the 8-hour negotiation simulation I mentioned before, I prepare students by introducing diplomatic negotiations and the plastic pollution problem. Then I get students to take on the roles of government negotiators. The first assignment they have is to develop a negotiation position and strategy based on their assigned role. I give them some instructions specific to their role to help them understand their country’s interests in the negotiations. 

I provide them with the draft of the treaty text, based on the authentic text that governments are negotiating. They learn how to modify the text, just as real government negotiators would do. When it comes to strategy, I ask them to think about the issues that they want to prioritize, issues they could compromise on… they understand that you never can get everything you ask for in such negotiations. So, it’s all about prioritizing, thinking about alliances – which countries share your interests, which ones you could work with, which countries you need to convince, possible reasons and arguments to back up your points and justify your position… 

How has your course around international environmental negotiation evolved over time? 

I’ve been using the plastic pollution treaty for a few years now, and the course evolves in real time with the treaty negotiations. The case study the course is based on is still ongoing. The past two times, governments were supposed to adopt the treaty, but they failed to do so. Each time I go to one of these negotiating sessions and come back, I update my materials, I update the negotiating text and when there’s a new US administration for example, I change the briefing notes I give to students to better reflect the new government’s way of thinking. 

When I first started teaching this course, the negotiation process was still in its early stage, and there wasn’t much of a text yet at that time. So, I can say that the course has definitely developed, evolved, gotten richer, just as the real-world negotiation process has. 

What other teaching methods do you use? 

In the Master in Management for Sustainability, I create exercises that allow my students to think like practitioners. Many students in that program become sustainability managers or consultants. For their final assignment, I ask them to role-play as a sustainability manager and write a report for the CEO about participating in the next COP, outlining objectives and strategies.

What do you like about being a professor at IÉSEG?

It’s important for me to work in a place where my values are reflected, and I find IÉSEG’s Vision very inspiring. I see the potential of students to make a real change in the world. Political processes are often stalled, so the private sector is where most exciting developments are happening. I believe I have greater added value here at IÉSEG than I would in a political science faculty. 

I feel that I’m part of a community actively working for positive change. I wouldn’t be able to get out of bed for work every day if I didn’t feel part of something meaningful. On a personal level, my colleagues and students are great, making it a supportive and inclusive place to work. 

What do you think your international background can bring to the school? 

For a professor of international negotiation, I think it’s essential to have an international background. We’ve spoken about the UN negotiations and how my international and somewhat diplomatic experience is helpful for designing and implementing those courses. But also in general negotiation courses we touch on the international dimension – how different cultures negotiate. I’m able to draw on my experience of traveling to over 50 different countries, living in seven or eight different countries, and that’s definitely useful. 

When you’re teaching international political negotiations and you have a class filled with students from all around the world, that’s fantastic. In the Negotiating International Political Agreements course, there are always many exchange students from all around the world, which brings another level of authenticity to the course.  

Have you noticed any changes at the School since you arrived? 

I’m the Sustainability Coordinator for my department of Negotiation and Conflict Resolution. Even before I joined, I was impressed to see that sustainability is something the school took very seriously at the highest levels, and that was a big reason for me wanting to join. But since then, I think it’s gone from strength to strength, –  sustainability is mainstreamed in every department, every course, and even in administrative departments.