Johann Ivanov studied Political Science (B.A.) at the Otto Suhr Institute, Freie Universität Berlin, and International Political Theory (MSc) at the University of Edinburgh. His studies focused on peace and conflict studies (particularly on Just War Theory, War and Morality), political theory and international relations. As part of his studies abroad at Kazan Federal University in Russia, he focused on Russian foreign policy and history. For his master’s thesis, he looked into the limits of the application of just war theory in the field of cyberwarfare.
Johann Ivanov has been working at the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) since 2015: first in Germany, including as an advisor for democracy and participation issues and as a country desk officer for Southeast Asia (especially Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam). Afterwards, he headed the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung’s foreign offices in India (as a deputy resident representative) from 2017 to 2020 and in Ghana from 2020 to 2024.
Since April 2024, Johann Ivanov has been the policy advisor for peace and security (with a focus on peace and development) in the Global and European Policy Department (GEP) of the FES as well as the representative of the FES in the FriEnt team.