Irfana Khatoon is a Junior Fellow at UNU-CPR supporting the uptake and further development of the recommendations of the High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism (HLAB).
Prior to working at UNU-CPR Irfana interned at the United Nations University – Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU-CRIS) where her responsibilities included revising and updating the membership data of the institute’s Regional Integration Knowledge System platform; conducting a survey of literature on indices related to the strength of Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs); defining the indicators of an index of BIT investor protection; and helping to determine databases for the construction of a BIT index.
Prior to her time at CRIS, Irfana gained valuable work experience as an intern at the Mayer Brown Hong Kong office and as a principal investigator for research projects funded by the Asian University for Women, where she also worked as a teaching assistant.
Irfana holds a bachelor’s degree in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics from Asian University for Women in Bangladesh, and has a graduate degree in Geopolitics and International Affairs from the University of Sussex. Her thesis at Sussex focused on analysing the geopolitics surrounding the Sunni-Shia sectarian conflict in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. Recently, she successfully completed her second master's degree in Economic Policy in Global Markets from Central European University in Vienna. Her research explored the impact of the 2014 economic sanctions on foreign direct investment inflows into various Russian industries, including agri-mining, manufacturing, and services.
Irfana has been recognized for her academic achievements with multiple scholarships, including the AUW Sussex Scholarship, Sussex Alumni Scholarship, CEU Merit Scholarship, and Aga Khan Foundation ISP.