Maria Ivanova
Director of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs; Professor of Public Policy; Co-Director of the Plastics Center at Northeastern
Maria Ivanova is a Professor of Public Policy and serves as the Director of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University. Additionally, she is the Co-Director of the Plastics Center at Northeastern.
Her academic journey in the United States began at Mount Holyoke College, followed by a deep dive into international relations and environmental policy at Yale University. There, she earned a joint master’s degree in International Relations and Environmental Management and later completed her Ph.D. Before starting at Northeastern University, Ivanova directed the Center for Governance and Sustainability and the Ph.D. program in Global Governance and Human Security at the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Through her academic contributions and policy roles, Maria has significantly influenced global environmental governance. Her work is particularly known for bridging theory and practice in global environmental governance. She has also authored influential works, including her most recent book, “The Untold Story of the World’s Leading Environmental Institution: UNEP at Fifty,” published by MIT Press in 2021. Her numerous roles on international advisory boards and committees, such as her four-year term on the Joint Scientific Committee of the World Climate Research Programme, underscore her standing as a leading voice in both academic discourse and practical policy initiatives on a global scale.
- Appointed as one of 66 inaugural Foundational Fellows of the International Science Council in recognition of remarkable contributions to the role of science in promoting the global public good
- Innovation in Teaching: Community Engagement Award, University of Massachusetts Boston, 2018
Books
- Ivanova, Maria (2021). The Untold Story of the World’s Leading Environmental Institution: UNEP at Fifty. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press.
- The book is now available for everyone to read for free.
- Esty, Daniel and Maria Ivanova, Eds. (2002). Global Environmental Governance: Options & Opportunities. New Haven, CT, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.
Selected Journal Articles
- Ivanova, Maria, and Sharachchandra Lele (2022). “Fifty Years after UN Environment Summit, Researchers Renew Call for Action.” Nature 606, no. 7912: 30–30. DOI: 10.1038/d41586-022-01511-7
- Wood, Sylvia L. R., Amy Luers, Jennifer Garard, Ajay Gambhir, Kalpana Chaudhari, Maria Ivanova, and Casey Cronin (2021). “Collective Foresight and Intelligence for Sustainability.” Global Sustainability 4: e3. DOI:10.1017/sus.2021.3
- Ivanova, Maria (2021). “At 50, the UN Environment Programme Must Lead Again.” Nature 590: 365. DOI: 10.1038/d41586-021-00393-5
- Ivanova, Maria. (2020). “Fighting Fire with a Thermometer? Environmental Efforts of the United Nations.” Ethics & International Affairs, 34 (3), 339–349. Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/S0892679420000404
- Ivanova, Maria (2020). Guest editor of special issue on “Global Environmental Policy and Governance in Sustainability” for Sustainability 12, no. 17.
- Ivanova, Maria (2020). “Coloring the UN Environmental: The Catalytic Role of the UN Environment Programme.” Global Governance 26: 2, 307-324.
- Andrew Carnegie Fellow, 2015
- Member, Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to the Global Commission on Science Missions for Sustainability co-chaired by Helen Clark and Irina Bokova, 2021-present
- Co-Chair (with Dr. Sharachchandra Lele) of drafting process for official letter from scientists and scholars of the world to the Stockholm+50 Conference, 2022
- Co-Chair (with Professor Jim Hurrell), Task Team on Climate Intervention, World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), 2021-present
- Chair, UN University-Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (IAS) Board, 2019-2021
- Appointed Board member in 2014
- Elected Chair in 2019
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Education
PhD in International Environmental Policy, Yale University
Master's in International Relations, Yale University
Master's in Environmental Management, Yale University
Bachelor of Arts in European Studies, Mount Holyoke College -
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