Hester is involved in research and project management on governance and crisis management within the school. She coordinates the development of teaching programs on crisis and leadership, both within the MPP as well as executive programs. She has organised a Risk and Resilience Conference, together with OPEN. She also supports an ongoing review on executive programme provision within the school, the Next Chapter Project, together with Professor Rebecca Kitteridge.

Previously she was engaged as a research officer on a BSG and Welcome Trust project on Covid-19, assessing the pandemic response in the UK as well as other countries. Examining governance and crisis capabilities, while formulating lessons going forward, this project culminated in the report Crisis Preparation in the Age of Long Emergencies, co-authored with Prof. Ciaran Martin and Maximillian Fink. She has furthermore been involved in a large comparative research study on Covid-19 and coordination across different tiers of government, led by the University of Nottingham.

Hester has a PhD in Governance from the University of Bath and holds an MA in Politics from the University of Amsterdam combined with Social Policy at the University of Edinburgh, and an MSc in European Social Policy at the London School of Economics. Besides academic research and publications, she has worked for various organisations including the Dutch government department of Social Affairs and Employment.