Mariam Darbaidze

Mariam Darbaidze is an Academic Doctor (PhD) of Biology, a professor, and a specialist in higher-education quality assurance and institutional management, with more than 25 years' experience across academic, scientific and administrative fields. Since September 2024 she has been Vice-Rector for Quality Assurance at Georgian International University (GIU).

Her work spans the strategic management of higher-education institutions, authorization and accreditation, educational-programme development, the strengthening of internal quality-assurance systems, and academic integrity. Engaged in authorization and accreditation expert work since 2006, she chaired the national Authorization Council for higher-education institutions. She also holds extensive leadership experience at the David Aghmashenebeli National Defence Academy of Georgia, where she led teaching and quality-assurance directions, and has served as vice-rector, rector and chancellor’s adviser.

Her academic foundation is in biology and physiology: in 2006, at the Ivane Beritashvili Institute of Physiology, she defended a doctoral dissertation on the effect of manganese-chloride intoxication on learning and memory. Her research interests include neurophysiology, the biological bases of behaviour and memory, oxidative stress and hyperthermia-induced hormesis; she collaborates actively with the Ivane Beritashvili Center of Experimental Biomedicine on behavioural-neuroscience research.

She is the founder of the innovative platform “Psychonauts” and a mentor to young people, and her international professional development includes initiatives with the Universities of Uppsala and Vienna, NATO-Georgia and PFPC DEEP. A holder of Georgia’s Order of Honour, she combines academic research, modern management and a vision for the systemic transformation of education.