Ivars Ijabs

From 2014 to 2019 Ivars Ijabs was Chairman of the Board of the Foundation for an Open Society DOTS. From 2009 to 2013 he was Chairman of the Board of the Latvian Association of Political Scientists. Since 2018 he is a Corresponding member of the Latvian Academy of Science.

Ijabs was born in Riga, where he also spent most of his childhood and teenage years. In 1996 he graduated from the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music and obtained his first bachelor's degree in Arts. He played French horn in ‘Rīga’ orchestra and the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra. In 1997 he enrolled in the Faculty of History and Philosophy at the University of Latvia where he in 2001 obtained his bachelor's and in 2003 his master's degrees in Philosophy. Since then he has been teaching at the university. In 2007 Ijabs obtained a doctoral degree from the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Latvia and became an associate professor at the University. His dissertation topic was ‘Civil society discourse in modern political theory and its elements in the history of Latvian political ideas’ (Pilsoniskās sabiedrības diskurss modernajā politikas teorijā un tā elementi Latvijas politisko ideju vēsturē).

Ivars Ijabs (born 17 November 1972) is a Latvian political scientist and politician. He is a lecturer and professor at the University of Latvia and holds a PhD in political science. In May 2019, representing political alliance Development/For!, he was elected as a Member of the European Parliament. He then joined Renew Europe Group.