Irina Ghaplanyan is a 2022 Atlantic Council Millennium Leadership fellow and a political scientist, climate- and environmental-policy expert, and published author. Currently, she is a senior advisor on climate change to the World Bank Group. She also teaches at the American University of Armenia.

Previously, Ghaplanyan served as deputy minister of environment for the Republic of Armenia between 2018 and 2020. Ghaplanyan has also worked in a number of international organizations and think tanks around the world including the United Nations Development Programme, Georgetown University, the Eurasia Foundation, and Chatham House.

Ghaplanyan has a number of academic and media publications, the most recent of which being a book entitled Post-Soviet Armenia: The New National Elite and the New National Narrative.

Ghaplanyan holds a doctorate degree in political science from the University of Cambridge, a master’s degree in diplomatic studies from the Diplomatic Academy of London, and a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the University of Malta.