Ilona Szabó de Carvalho is the co-founder and president of the Igarapé Institute – an independent think-and-do tank focused on citizen, digital and climate security, working at the intersection of research, new technologies, communication and public policy. She is a civic entrepreneur and a globally recognized thought leader on issues of violence prevention, and civic and climate action.

Ilona serves on several boards, including the UNSG High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism, Fernando Henrique Cardoso Foundation (FFHC) and the Brazilian Center of International Relations (CEBRI).

She was previously the Executive-Secretary of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, of the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy and of a national gun control campaign in Brazil. Before that, she worked for 5 years in investment banks in Rio de Janeiro. She earned a Master’s Degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Uppsala in Sweden, is an affiliate scholar at the Princeton University Brazil Lab, and was a public policy fellow at Columbia University in NY.

She is also a columnist at Folha de São Paulo, a podcast and TV anchor and commentator, a TED speaker, and the author of 3 books. Ilona was nominated as a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum in 2015 and in 2020 as one of the world's top 50 thinkers for the Covid-19 age by Prospect Magazine.