Patrick Hayden is Emeritus Professor of Political Theory and International Relations at the University of St Andrews, which he joined in 2006. His research and teaching interests focus broadly on the intersection of international (or global) politics and social and political theory. Consequently his research can be viewed as oriented by the rubric of international political theory (IPT).

Within IPT, he is interested principally in themes and issues involving human rights, international and global ethics, cosmopolitanism, genocide studies and political violence, and globalization debates. With regard to contemporary political theory he is interested specifically in the work of Hannah Arendt, twentieth-century existentialist thinkers (esp. Camus), and the tradition of critical theory (esp. first-generation Frankfurt School).

Professor Hayden is the founding and former Editor-in-Chief (2007-2020) of the Journal of International Political Theory (JIPT), published by SAGE. His present research project is a co-edited special issue on "Reclaiming Utopian Hope for a World in Crisis" for JIPT.