Dr. Beata Martin-Rozumiłowicz is currently the Director for Europe and Eurasia at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES). Before starting in February 2016, she headed the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODHIR) Election Department in Warsaw, Poland since 2011 and previously served as its Deputy from 2009 to 2011.
From 2005 to 2009, she worked on dozens of OSCE/ODIHR election observation missions across the 57 OSCE participating states as Deputy Head of Mission or as Political Analyst, including in Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Montenegro, the Russian Federation, and Ukraine.
In 2005, she served as Election Adviser to the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and from 2003 to 2005 was Political/Media Officer at the OSCE Centre in Almaty, Kazakhstan. From 2000 to 2002, Beata acted as Human Dimension Officer at the OSCE’s Advisory and Monitoring Group in Minsk, Belarus. She has also previously consulted for IFES in Armenia and Kyrgyzstan on various aspects of electoral reform. During the course of her work and travels, Beata has visited more than 75 countries around the world.
Beata holds a D.Phil. (Ph.D.) and M.Phil. (Masters) in politics from the University of Oxford, United Kingdom and a B.A. in political science from Rutgers College (Phi Beta Kappa). She has specialized in political party and electoral development in post-communist countries, Latin American transitions, and political theory.
From 1999-2000, she was research fellow for Oxford’s Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy, publishing a book on media law reform in transitional democracies. She has also published various articles on political party and electoral development, election observation, media freedom, cybersecurity and elections, and political party and campaign finance issues.