Ivelina Borisova is the Research Assistant for the Research Program on Children and Adversity (RPCA) at the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center. Currently she is an advanced doctoral student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education as well as a research fellow at the Center on the Developing Child, Cambridge. Ms. Borisova’s doctoral research and work is focused on the protection and psychosocial wellbeing of children affected by war. She is particularly interested in the protective processes involved in resilient mental health outcomes among war-affected youth. In her doctoral dissertation Ms. Borisova plans to study the reintegration processes of former child soldiers from Sierra Leone, and to understand resilient post-conflict trajectories among this sub-group of war-affected children. Ms. Borisova currently works closely with Dr. Theresa Betancourt on analyzing qualitative and quantitative data with youth from Northern Uganda and post-conflict Sierra Leone. Previously, Ms. Borisova has worked as a research associate in designing and launching a baseline survey of child protection issues in Southern Sudan. She has also worked with the University Committee for Human Rights at Harvard in assisting with the publication of a comparative study of laws, policy and practice relating to unaccompanied and separated children and refugee protection. Ms. Borisova graduated with a dual degree in Psychology and Art Studio from Williams College, MA. She also holds a Masters in Child and Adolescent Risk and Prevention from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
