Yulia Vorobyeva is a Senior Principal Specialist in the Security, Transparency, Accountability, and Rule of Law practice, specializing in citizen security, organized crime, and rule of law, with a geographical focus on Latin America and post-Soviet countries.

Prior to joining DAI, she served as a researcher for United Nations agencies and donor-funded projects, as well as evaluated youth crime and violence prevention projects for the U.S. Agency for International Development in Latin America and the Caribbean region. Since 2018, Yulia has been teaching graduate courses in Latin American Studies at Florida International University.

Yulia is well-versed in both qualitative and quantitative research methods. She has authored multiple academic articles and policy-oriented research reports on a variety of topics. Her work includes publications on drug trafficking in Central Asia; global cocaine flows; migrant smuggling; drivers of illicit financial flows from developing countries; police legitimacy in El Salvador; youth violence in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala; electoral participation in Nicaragua; killings of journalists under contemporary political regimes; and online radicalization toward violent extremism.

• Graduate certificate, strategic management, Harvard University
• Ph.D, international studies, University of Miami
• M.A., Spanish, University of Northern Iowa
• M.A., linguistics and translation (Spanish), Herzen State Pedagogical University