Ioana Jipa-Muşat is a political economist working on economic transformation and institutional change in Central Eastern Europe, especially in relation to processes of development, labour regimes and migration. 

Ioana joined Royal Holloway University of London in 2023 as a Lecturer in International Business and Strategy. She holds a PhD (2015-2020) in Business Management (with a focus in comparative political economy, international business and business history) from Queen Mary University of London. Previously, Ioana was a Postdoctoral Researcher and Teaching Fellow at Queen Mary University of London.

Ioana studies the political economy of development with a focus on Central Eastern Europe and Romania. Her recent work explores the theory, politics and industrial organisation of the business enterprise and global production networks in coal mining, automotives and business services. This work bridges scholarship in development studies, economic geography, political science, business politics and business history.

Another vein of her work examines the relationship between multiple recent crises and the changing dynamics of worker migration. As human mobility and crises have become intrinsic features of the global political economy, understanding the causal relations between changing migration patterns and moments of crisis has become an urgent issue for governments, international organisations, civil society actors and academics. This research critically interrogates how these crisis moments shape the ways in which authorities and other actors in countries of destination and countries of origin adapt to this type of return migration, and the ways in which returned migrant workers react to the opportunities and challenges they face in this increasingly turbulent politico-economic landscape.

Ioana is a member of the Centre on Labour, Sustainability and Global Production (CLaSP).

Ioana's work has appeared in leading journals, such as Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space and European Urban and Regional Studies.

Ioana holds a Postdoctoral Fellowship (2023) in Global Governance of Migration from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, School of Law), a PhD in Business Management (2020) from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, School of Business Management), an MSc in International Management (2014) from King’s College London (Distinction), a BA Hons in Business Management (2013) from Sheffield University (First Class Honours).

Ioana has taught a variety of courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. These include global political economy, global supply chains, multinationals and global business, European business, business and society, corporate governance, firm strategy, start-ups and incubators, new product development and business ecosystems, business ethics, corporations and social responsibility, and social and political marketing, persuasive strategies in marketing. 

She is currently working towards a Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy through the Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PGCAP) programme at the Queen Mary Academy.