Professor Ivanova is the Director of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University. It focuses on international environmental institutions, environmental sustainability and the science-policy interface. Its author The untold story of the world's leading environmental institution: UNEP at fifty (MIT Press 2021), has published on global environmental governance, climate change, and the Sustainable Development Goals, among other topics. Her work has appeared in Nature, Sustainability, Ethics & International Affairs, World Politics, Global Environmental Policy, Global Governance, and elsewhere.
Professor Ivanova's scholarly focus includes the performance of international institutions, the implementation of international environmental agreements and sustainability. Her current research examines national performance in international environmental conventions and she is actively working with East African countries.
Professor Ivanova served for 12 years at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, where she co-founded the PhD program in Global Governance and Human Security and founded the Center for Governance and Sustainability.
In June 2022, Professor Ivanova was named one of the 66 inaugural Foundation Fellows of the International Council on Science, the Council's highest honor in recognition of outstanding contributions to the role of science in advancing the global public good. He was a member of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) of the Global Committee on Scientific Missions for Sustainability.
Professor Ivanova is also an Andrew Carnegie Fellow, a member of the Joint Scientific Committee of the World Climate Research Program (WCRP) and an Ambassador for Transparency International. She has been a Research Fellow at the Center for Collective Intelligence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Sustainability Advisory Council at Yale University, and the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative Advisory Group.
Professor Ivanova's leadership spans various international committees and organizations. From 2014 to 2016, he served on the UN Secretary-General's Scientific Advisory Board under UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. He was Chair of the Advisory Board of the United Nations University Institute for Advanced Study in Sustainability (IAS) in Tokyo, Japan (2019-2021) and Chair of the Jury for the $5 million New Shape Prize for Global Governance Reform administered by Global Challenges Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden (2017-2018).
In 2022, Professor Ivanova served on the Rwandan delegation to the UN Environment Assembly, negotiating the resolution for a global plastic treaty. He continues to participate in the Treaty negotiation process as a representative of the International Scientific Council.
He holds a PhD from Yale University and an MA in International Relations and Environmental Management from Yale and a BA from Mount Holyoke College.
As Director of the School of Politics at Northeastern University, Professor Ivanova is committed to addressing global challenges, particularly climate action and plastic pollution. Its leadership emphasizes international cooperation, community engagement and active politics, supporting a vision for a resilient and sustainable world.
