Ngaire Woods

Professor Ngaire Woods is the Founding Dean of the Blavatnik School of Government and Professor of Global Economic Governance at the University of Oxford. She leads the school’s mission to train leaders in public policy and has pioneered research on global governance, international institutions, and economic policy. Previously, she established the Global Economic Governance Programme and co-founded the Oxford-Princeton Global Leaders Fellowship. Her work focuses on enhancing organizational governance, addressing global challenges like economic nationalism, and reforming international institutions such as the IMF and World Bank.

• Education:
  • Bachelor of Arts (Economics) and Bachelor of Laws (Honors), Auckland University
  • MPhil (Distinction) and DPhil in International Relations, Balliol College, Oxford (as a Rhodes Scholar)
• Research Interests: Governance of international organizations, challenges of globalization, global development, and reform of Bretton Woods institutions.

Her research has produced influential works on topics such as IMF governance, climate finance, and the role of emerging economies in global governance. She has advised numerous international bodies, including the IMF, World Bank, African Development Bank, and G20.

Notable achievements include co-chairing World Economic Forum councils on governance and complex risks, serving on advisory boards for institutions like the Centre for Global Development and Tsinghua University, and receiving the CBE for contributions to higher education and public policy.

Awards:

• CBE (2018)
• Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences
• International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Her recent publications analyze the IMF’s role in economic nationalism, the decline of multilateralism, and strategies for effective global governance in the 21st century. She frequently contributes to policy debates through media outlets like Project Syndicate and BBC News, addressing topics ranging from far-right politics in Europe to the future of global economic cooperation.