Ralitza Dimova obtained her Ph.D. in Economics from the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium in January 2005. Her area of specialization is labour economics. Since her graduation, she has worked as a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (Rostock, Germany) and the National Gerontology Foundation in Paris and as a lecturer at Brunel University in London. She is currently a senior lecturer in development economics at the University of Manchester. Her current research interest include education and employment in poorer African countries like Malawi, Tanzania, Benin, Burkina Faso and Senegal.

She joined IZA as a Research Fellow in September 2006.