Ian Taylor is Professor in International Relations and African Political Economy at the University of St Andrews and also Chair Professor in the School of International Studies, Renmin University of China.

Focusing largely on sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) he has authored 12 academic books, edited another 12 and has published over 70 peer-reviewed scholarly articles, over 90 chapters in books and numerous working papers, reports, op-eds, review articles, encyclopedia entries, book reviews etc. He has been invited to present his research in 53 different countries on 6 continents and has been described as "one of the most authoritative academics on SSA IR" (Cambridge Review of International Affairs). He is the co-editor of the Journal of Modern African Studies..

He is also interested in Chinese foreign policy and has studied China's relations with Africa, producing a large body of work on this topic, conducted since 1994 and based on extensive fieldwork across Africa and in China, as well as Chinese historical sources. He also has an abiding interest in critical theory, particularly neo-Gramscian theory, and in the political thought of the great African intellectuals such as Cabral, Biko, Nkrumah, Nyerere, Fanon etc..

He holds a DPhil from the University of Stellenbosch and an MPhil from the University of Hong Kong. He also holds a teaching certificate from the International Language Institute, Cairo, Egypt (where he taught Ethiopian, Somali and Sudanese refugees), and a Certificate in Theology from the Highland Theological College, University of the Highlands and Islands, Scotland.