Elena Giral

Elena Giral is a Spanish architect and urban planner, specialised in shelter and settlements in emergencies and participatory projects with communities. She currently works in the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Department of the European Commission (ECHO), where she coordinates the creation of the first European emergency shelter capacity under the rescEU programme. Previously she worked on selection, funding and monitoring of humanitarian and emergency projects for various regions (Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and East Africa). 

Elena has also worked as an architect and urban planner on projects in France and Spain and collaborated with the NGO TECHO in Chile, developing participatory social housing in informal settlements as well as with the King Baudouin Foundation in Belgium, where she coordinated a European network of philanthropic foundations present in 19 countries.

Elena holds an Architecture Master’s degree from the University of Valladolid (Spain) and a Post-graduate Master in European Studies – Policy Advisor and Project Consultant from the UC Louvain / CCItaBel. She also owns an Advanced Master of Human Settlements at the KU Leuven (Belgium). Elena has been a guest lecturer in several universities such as the University of North Carolina (US), The Politecnico de Milano (IT), and the university of Tirana (AL). She was also part of the academic body of the first shelter workshop organised by the Norman Foster Foundation, delivering the opening Keynote Speech for the NFF shelter debates.