Elena is an Associate Professor and Director of Education at the Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning (IATL) where she develops and oversees interdisciplinary and wellbeing positive learning opportunities for all Warwick students. The recognition that each student is precious, unique and has invaluable talents that need to be discovered and nurtured in a university environment that is caring and inclusive shapes Elena’s interdisciplinary and wellbeing pedagogic practices, her educational research projects and her collaborations, underpinned by participatory practices such as co-creation, with different colleagues and students.

Elena creates new interdisciplinary modules, events, and activities that explore complex topics and issues, creating connections between the scientific disciplines and the humanities and plays a key role sector-wide in creating and promoting interdisciplinary education. As a result, students from any disciplinary background and level (from ‘freshers’ to PGTs) feel empowered to engage with global topics such as wellbeing, genetics and water, developing an understanding of the crucial role of interdisciplinarity when tackling the issues of our times and expanding their own learning horizons and practices.

Elena is deeply committed to create learning experiences and environments that sustain positive student and staff wellbeing. Her work in this field has attracted significant external funding, won multiple awards, and been adopted by Universities in the UK and internationally.