Ivor is a South African academic studying democracy and public management in the post-apartheid context. His academic research has included analysis of corruption in South Africa. He co-authored the May 2017 publication Betrayal of the Promise: How South Africa is being stolen, and Shadow State: The Politics of State Capture (2018) which were among the first works to detail a corrupt state capture scheme orchestrated by members of the African National Congress (ANC). In 2010, Ivor established the Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI), where he served until 2018. In 2019, Ivor inaugurated the think tank Government and Public Policy (GAPP), renamed the New South Institute (NSI) in 2023.