Iryna Borysivna Makarenko (maiden name Shcherbak) was born in June 1962 in Kyiv. In 1982, she graduated from 1st geophysical department of the Kyiv Geological Prospecting College with honors. After that, she was referred to the S. Subbotin Institute of Geophysics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, where she started a scientific journey and made a career from a technician to a leading researcher. She is a 1989 graduate and gained the specialty of "Geophysical methods of prospecting and exploration of mineral deposits" at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. In 1992, I.B. Makarenko began postgraduate studies at the S. Subbotin Institute of Geophysics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. In 1997, she earned a degree of Candidate of Geology and Mineralogy Sciences by defending the dissertation "The Structure of the Earth's Crust of the Black Sea Basin According to the Data of Gravity Modeling". From 2008 to 2011, she studied at the doctorate of the Institute of Geophysics. In 2019, she successfully defended the doctoral dissertation "Heterogeneity of the Earth's crust of Ukraine and adjacent regions according to the data of 3D gravity modeling". In 2021, Iryna received the academic status of Senior researcher. I.B. Makarenko is a highly qualified leading specialist in the 2D and 3D gravity modeling field, perfectly possessing the methodology and technology of building density models. The author of 137 scientific publications, including five co-authored monographs, her 31 publications included in the international scientometrics databases Scopus (total number of citations 321; h-index 7) and Web of Science (total number of citations 354; h-index 10). In 2004, I.B. Makarenko worked at the Antarctic station Akademik Vernadskyi as part of the geophysical detachment of the S. Subbotin Institute of Geophysics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (interseasonal work of the IX Ukrainian Antarctic Expedition). She participated in the measurement of the gravitational field and the interpretation of the obtained results. I.B. Makarenko actively participated in the execution of target programs, and fundamental and applied topics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Now she is the scientific leader of the state budget topic: "Deep structure of the lithosphere and processes of formation of mineral deposits of Ukraine and adjacent regions" (2021-2025). The scientific activity of I.B. Makarenko is directly related to the subject of international scientific cooperation: a member of the working group within the framework of the EUROBRIDGE project (1994–2002); in 2003-2006, participation in the Black Sea research project of the MEBE (Middle East Basin Evolution) program; in 2006-2007, work within the project "Major weakness zones of the lithosphere in the Western Baltica"; in 2000-2005, participation in the research project with the Polish Geological Institute "Geophysical and geological studies of the structure and evolution of the Earth's Crust in the western part of the East-European Platform"; participation in the construction of a three-dimensional gravity model of Vietnam as part of the project "Improving the applied geophysical methods in research of Lithosphere structures in Vietnam Territory and surrounded areas" (2009-2013). For many years, I.B. Makarenko has been the responsible executor of projects within the Agreement on bilateral scientific cooperation between the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Bulgarian, Romanian, and Slovak Academies of Sciences. All projects relate to geological-geophysical topics, in particular research into the deep structure of the lithosphere. Member of the international editorial advisory board (IEAB) of the journal Contributions to Geophysics and Geodesy (e-journal) (2019-2020) (Scopus, Web of Science) and the editorial board of the international periodical Geofizicheskiy Zhurnal (2020-2023) (Web of Science). Now Iryna is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Geofizicheskiy Zhurnal (since 2023) and an invited reviewer of articles in the scientific publication Geologica Carpathica (Scopus). She is a member of the Scientific Council and the Specialized Doctoral Council D 26.200.01 of the S. Subbotin Institute of Geophysics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.