Assoc. Prof. Dr. Iva Pushkarova

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Iva Pushkarova is an internationally recognized expert in criminal law and human rights, specializing in comprehensive evaluations of legislative effectiveness and legal reforms.

Since 2005, she has been teaching criminal law at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski,” and since 2011, she has also been a lecturer at the Academy of the Ministry of Interior. Between 2012 and 2017, she served as Chair of the Presidential Pardons Commission of the Republic of Bulgaria.

Dr. Pushkarova is the author of more than 140 comparative legal studies, articles, monographs, and book chapters. Her work spans topics such as organized crime, human trafficking, exploitation-related crimes, juvenile delinquency, offenses against children, financial and corporate crime, the penal system, and constitutional issues within the judiciary. Her monographs “Forms of Organized Criminal Activity under the Penal Code of the Republic of Bulgaria” (2011) and “Human Trafficking” (2012) are the first comprehensive legal studies on these subjects in Bulgaria.

She has served as an expert or leader on more than 30 legal research projects in collaboration with Bulgarian and international organizations and institutions. From 2003 to 2011, she was the Executive Director of the Bulgarian Judges Association. Since 2011, she has led the research center “Foundation for Justice Development,” specializing in multidisciplinary legal studies.

Dr. Pushkarova was the principal author of the Concept for State Criminal Policy and the Concept for State Policy on Justice for Children, which provide strategic direction in these areas.

She graduated with degrees in Law and History from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” in 2003 and later specialized in English and European Law at the University of Cambridge.