Dr. Ingeborg Niestroy studied (physical) geography, worked as planner for transport projects, and has ever since been interested in governance questions of environmental integration and sustainable development, firstly culminating in her Ph.D. thesis on Strategic Environmental Assessment. She was Secretary-General of the European network of advisory councils for environmental policy and sustainable development (EEAC), and has around 15 years’ experience in European policy-making and multi-stakeholder relations. She conducted a comparative study on governance for SD in nine EU members states (2005), and well as on different models of environmental and SD councils (2007, with follow-ups) and on institutionalisation of the SDGs in all EU Member States (2019). Se conducted many other small and larger research and consultancy contracts.
Since 2019 she is senior fellow at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) in Potsdam, Germany. Furthermore, since 2013, she is associate at the International Institute for Susainable Development (IISD) and research associate at the Policy Assessment Group of the Environmental Policy Research Centre, Free University of Berlin.
Inge took part in the preparations of the Rio+20 conference (2010-2012), collaborated in a comparative study of the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) on governance for SD at regional, national and sub-national level, as well as in a study on SDGs in 14 ASEM countries, and continues to contribute to the post-Rio processes. She was Board member of the Club of Rome – EU chapter, delegate to the Consultative Committee for Industrial Change (CCMI) of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and affiliated with the Network of Excellence LIAISE (Linking Impact Assessment Instruments and Sustainability Expertise).