Irina Goryunova

Irina Goryunova is Deputy Resident Representative for UNDP Thailand, a proud citizen of Kazakhstan with 20 years of experience, including 13 years at UNDP. Her portfolio includes C3 Labs, a seed funded USD 2 Million Global Environment Facility innovation initiative that includes a strong systems informed finance and portfolio element.

Her journey includes pivotal roles such as Country Programme Specialist at the UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub, where she provided critical programmatic and management support to UNDP Country Offices across the Pacific sub-region, and a decade at the UNDP Country Office in Kazakhstan, where she led the entire Programme Unit and oversaw the SDG portfolio and SDG Financing agenda, and later the Management and Programme Support Unit, strategically supporting programme quality assurance, project implementation, resource management, and communication and partnership functions.

Throughout her career, Irina has cultivated invaluable collaborations with other UN Agencies, NGOs and development actors, as well as the private sector, with a consistent focus on climate change and clean energy. Irina holds two bachelor's degrees (International Relations and Law) from Kazakhstan, a dual master's degree in environmental science and policy from the University of Manchester and Central European University (Hungary), and has further enriched her knowledge with intensive coursework in natural resources management from the University of California, Davis.