Saipira Furstenberg

As a Validation Advisor, Saipira Furstenberg supports the Disclosure team with assessing performance of EITI implementing countries in meeting the EITI Standard. Saipira also contributes to the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) team by helping to refine the organisation's core theories of change through applied research across its key programmatic areas.

Prior to joining the EITI, Saipira worked for more than 10 years in academia and held several lectureship and postdoctoral positions. Most recently, she was a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at Ca' Foscari University of Venice (2022-2024). In 2025, she was an independent consultant advising the European Parliament and its Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI) on transnational repression and the protection of human rights defenders. 

Saipira has published numerous papers on global governance, political economy of natural resources, human rights and security. Results from her research appeared in European Journal of International Security, World Development and Journal of Conflict Resolutions, among others. 

Saipira holds an MA in International Security from the University of Warwick and a PhD from the University of Bremen. Her Doctoral research assessed the policy impact of the EITI in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyz Republic. She is an affiliated fellow at the University of Exeter, where she continues to conduct research on global governance and human rights. 

In her free time, Saipira enjoys cooking, mountain climbing and playing tennis.