Professor Dr Inga Žalėnienė has been Rector of Mykolas Romeris University (MRU) - the largest public university in Lithuania specialized in social sciences - since March, 2019. Inga started her academic career as a lecturer at MRU, defended her doctoral thesis "Representation in Civil Procedure (Theoretical and Practical Aspects)" and obtained a PhD in Law in 2006. In 2009, she was appointed as Vice-Dean of the Law Faculty at MRU and was responsible for the development of education policy, formation and coordination of research groups, organization of scientific project activities, planning and accounting of scientific results. Inga Žalėnienė was appointed as Vice-Rector for Research in 2010, for Research and International Relations in 2012, then, in 2017, as Vice-Rector for Education and Research. As Rector, Inga Žalėnienė devotes her efforts to implementing the whole institutional approach towards sustainability, to enhance the accomplishment of the University’s mission to promote socially balanced progress of society based on innovative science, to develop independent, creative, responsible, committed to critical thinking and lifelong learning individuals, to open the way to personal and professional success for every member of the community.

Dr Žalėnienė completed traineeship courses in “Management and Leadership in Education” in Harvard Graduate School of Education (United States) and senior executive programme “Leadership in Higher Education” in Oxford Academy for Education and Development (United Kingdom) in 2013, and accomplished IAU program in “Leading Globally Engaged Universities,” (Ireland) in 2016. In 2022, Prof. Inga Žalėnienė was awarded a honorary title of Dongseo University’s (Republic of Korea) Doctor Honoris Causa. Inga Žalėnienė was first elected to the IAU Administrative Board in 2016, and she was re-elected for a second term in 2022. During this second term, she was elected as a Vice-President in 2023, and now supervises one of the IAU priority areas – Internationalization of Higher Education. She is also a member of the European Women Rectors Association (EWORA) Board of Directors since 2021. She has published over 40 scientific publications and conference papers. Her research interests include civil procedure law, education law, higher education management, gender equality studies.