Maria Ivanova

Director of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs; Professor of Public Policy
Maria Ivanova is an expert in international environmental governance, sustainability, and the science-policy interface. She serves as the Director of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University, where she is a professor of Public Policy and fosters interdisciplinary collaboration and policy innovation.
She is the author of The Untold Story of the World’s Leading Environmental Institution: UNEP at Fifty (MIT Press, 2021) and has published widely on global environmental governance, climate change, and the Sustainable Development Goals. Professor Ivanova’s research examines the effectiveness of international institutions, national performance on environmental conventions, and the role of small states in multilateral environmental governance. She actively collaborates with governments in East Africa.
She has received numerous honors, including the 2025 Engaged Scholar Award of the Environmental Studies Section of the International Studies Association, the Global Green Mentor Award (2023, 2024), the Andrew Carnegie Fellowship (2015), and recognition as one of 66 inaugural Foundation Fellows of the International Science Council (2022), the highest distinction awarded by the Council for contributions to science in the global public good.
Professor Ivanova was a member of the Joint Scientific Committee of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) (2020–2024) and served on the UN Secretary-General’s Scientific Advisory Board under Ban Ki-moon (2014–2016). She is also a jury member for the Frontiers Planet Prize (2024, 2025), which awards $1 million for breakthrough research on planetary stability, and chaired the $5 million New Shape Prize (2017–2018) administered by the Global Challenges Foundation.
A recognized global thought leader, Professor Ivanova has been featured in international media and actively engages in public discussions on environmental policy. She is also working to bridge policy and the arts, collaborating with artists to raise awareness of environmental challenges. In 2022, she was part of Rwanda’s delegation to the UN Environment Assembly, negotiating the resolution for a global treaty to eliminate plastic pollution. She continues to play an active role in the treaty negotiations as head of Northeastern University’s delegation.
Professor Ivanova holds a PhD from Yale University, master’s degrees in International Relations and Environmental Management from Yale, and a BA from Mount Holyoke College. Originally from Bulgaria, she has worked at the OECD in Paris and at the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency in Stockholm.
- 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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