Ieva advises DemocracyNext on specific projects. Currently this includes Lithuania's first Citizens' Assembly, in Vilnius. She is also freelancing and exploring her research interests that are emerging at the intersection of deliberative democracy, democratic theory, collective emotions, and collective trauma.

From 2022 - 2024, Ieva was the Founding Head of Research and Learning at DemocracyNext, leading the development of the Assembling an Assembly Guide, a collaboration with Design & Democracy on Citizens’ Assemblies in two museums, a project on a book about Embedding Citizens’ Assemblies, research on Deliberation as an Antidote to Authoritarianism in Central and Eastern Europe (paper forthcoming in September), DemocracyNext's research and learning strategy, and the virtual learning program on Citizens' Assemblies (available in 2025).

Previously Ieva was a Policy Analyst at the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) working on innovative citizen participation and open government. There she played a key role in establishing the OECD’s evidence base with more than 700 examples of sortition-based citizens’ assemblies from around the world. She co-authored the OECD’s flagship report Catching the Deliberative Wave and Citizen Participation Guidelines, authored the OECD’s Evaluation Guidelines for Representative Deliberative Processes, and edited a series on New Democratic Institutions for Participo. 

While at the OECD, Ieva supported five governments across Europe to develop citizen engagement practices in cohesion policy, provided ongoing advice to institutionalise deliberative democracy in the Basque Country, and was part of the team designing deliberative processes in Finland and Spain. 

Born and raised in Lithuania, Ieva developed her interest in democratic innovation while working in the Lithuanian Prime Minister’s office, where she led Lithuania’s participation in the Open Government Partnership Initiative and developed, piloted, and implemented the methodology and practice of public consultations across government institutions. 

She is one of the 2023/2024 Europe's Futures Fellows at the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) and ERSTE Foundation.

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