W. Andy Knight is Professor of International Relations in the Political Science Department, University of Alberta, and past Chair of the Department. He is the former Director of the Institute of International Relations (IIR), The University of the West Indies (UWI), Trinidad & Tobago, and co-founder and the former head of the Diplomatic Academy of the Caribbean (DAOC). Professor Knight serves as Co-editor in Chief of both African Security journal and International Journal -- two globally prestigious peer-reviewed academic publications. During his secondment in the Caribbean, Knight established the Caribbean Journal of International Relations and Diplomacy and he was co-editor of a highly regarded and award-winning journal -- Global Governance from 2000 to 2005.

A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC), Professor Knight was named by Venture Magazine among Alberta's top 50 most influential people and, by the Black Business and Professional Association of Canada, as the Harry Jerome Trailblazer. He served as Advisory Board Member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Welfare of Children and was the inaugural Director of the Peace and Post Conflict Studies Certificate Programme in the Office of Interdisciplinary Studies (OIS) at the University of Alberta. In March 2007, Dr. Knight was appointed as a Governor, by the Canadian Foreign Minister, to the Board of Governors of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and served in that position until 2011. Knight is a Senior Fellow of the Institute for Peace and Diplomacy in Toronto and of McLaughlin College at York University. He serves on the editorial boards of several journals and on the advisory boards of the Kule Institute for Advanced Studies (KIAS); the South South Cooperation Council (SSCC); and the Canadian Defence and Security Network (CSDN).

In March 2021, Professor Knight was awarded the University of Alberta’s highest honour - the University of Alberta Distinguished Professor. He is currently the 2021-22 Fulbright Distinguished Chair in International and Area Studies at Yale University.