Yana Zabanova

Yana Zabanova joined RIFS in August 2021 as a research associate in the project "Geopolitics of the Energy Transformation - Implications of an International Hydrogen Economy" (GET Hydrogen), where she is focusing on hydrogen frontrunner countries. She holds more than 10 years of experience in policy research in her previous roles as an analyst at the European Stability Initiative think tank, a researcher and subsequently visiting fellow at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) in Berlin, as well as an independent consultant on energy transitions in Eurasia. Her recent clients have included the German Energy Agency (dena), the German Association for East European Studies (DGO), the Heinrich Böll Foundation, and the Sustainability Partnerships across Central Europe and Eurasia Hub (SPCE Hub). Yana Zabanova holds an MA in International Relations and European Studies from Central European University in Budapest and a Master's degree in Public Policy from the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. As an undergraduate, she studied public administration, international relations and European intellectual history in Russia, the US, and Germany. She is a PhD candidate at the University of Groningen and is working on a dissertation on advocacy coalitions for renewable energy development in Eurasian oil and gas-producing countries such as Russia and Kazakhstan.