Biography

Irina has a PhD in Geochemistry and Geoecology, plus a Doctorate in Earth Sciences awarded by one of the world’s most respected scientific centres; the Russian Academy of Science. Her career started in 2000 through the development of environmental risk mitigated spill response plans for the oil industry and expanded through her continued work in the Russian Far East where she became a member of the Russia-Asia workgroup, which managed key environmental protection projects between Russia, China, Korea and Japan.

She continued her scientific work through a range of projects with the Shell Sakhalin Energy Company, inclusive of performing extensive Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (EIA and ESIA) on the Moliqpaq and other oil platforms.

Her work on these projects identified and highlighted major environmental issues associated with the platform’s development approach and defined clear and effective corrective actions to fully mitigate such risks. Additionally, she also developed Oil Spill Response plans (OSR) for Sakhalin 2.

Within the Water and Energy Generation sectors, she conducted extensive environmental studies and assessments for both the Tumangan River project; a JV between the governments of Russia, China and North Korea, as well as, the Three Gorges Dam project in Chongqing, China.

Additionally, on the Three Gorges Dam project, she developed and managed safety and environmental impact audits for the Chinese Government, which subsequently were taken as the baseline to develop and establish China’s new environmental policies.

Irina also did extensive research work for the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) and other NGO’s, inclusive of studying the environmental impact from oil drilling on gray whales, which was foundational to establishing the proper methodology for ongoing preservation projects.

She also worked closely with various port authorities throughout the world, to identify current and potential industry related risks, as well as, to develop the proper response and mitigation schemes to efficiently deal with major environmental disasters such as; oil spills, vessels collisions, etc.

Further and within the shipping sector, she has extensively assessed the many risks associated with the quality of the cargoes and the transportation of dangerous goods. Her expert advice and development of proper mitigation protocols to deal with potential open water and in-port disasters, is highly regarded and is often used as evidence in courts by leading law firms and P&I clubs, on disaster liability proceedings and dispute settlements.

In 2014, she was selected by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and continues to be one of the members of the global scientific research team on MIT’s Environmental Solution Initiative (ESI) that is actively working on understanding and addressing the impact of the human footprint on the planet’s environmental envelop and, on developing and advancing current techniques for more predictive and robust impact modeling and enhanced mitigations.

Through the many projects and experiences to date, Irina has gained a holistic in-depth understanding of the correlation between responsible leadership, proper environmental protocols and sustainable actions, as well as, how such responsible CSR actions can result in the generation of beneficial commercial and financial outcomes.