Diana Stanescu

Dr. Diana Stanescu is a Data Scientist in IEG’s Methods Advisory Function and the managing editor of IEG’s Methods Paper Series. In her role, she provides advisory support to evaluation teams on research design and methods and supports evaluation skills development across IEG through the Foundations of Evaluation Design curriculum. Her work focuses on strengthening the use of causal inference and theory-based causal analysis in evaluation practice, and on expanding the range of data and methods used in IEG’s evaluations.

By training, Diana is a social scientist with over 10 years of experience in economic and foreign policy analysis, and in qualitative and quantitative research methods. Prior to joining the World Bank Group in 2023, she held fellowships at Stanford University’s Asia-Pacific Research Center and Harvard University’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, having received a Ph.D. in Political Science from Princeton University.