Ilektra Papadaki

Ilektra Papadaki is an Architect Engineer and PhD(c.) Spatial Engineer. She works as senior policy expert with nearly a decade of experience as staff in the EU and UN systems. 

She served as Team Leader and Policy Officer in DG GROW, setting, implementing, monitoring and reporting on built environment policy. She has advised and briefed high-level officials, drafted key policy documents, managed high-value contracts and expert groups. She has led co-creation and coordination exercises engaging Commission services, Member States, local authorities, academics and industrial stakeholders. Since leaving the Commission, she has continued contributing to relevant work streams as senior experts in contracts under the New European Bauhaus and the Net Zero Cities, and as Strategic Advisor for the European Construction Observatory and the High Level Construction Forum, authoring institutional reports on the built environment, climate action, affordable housing, decarbonisation, environmental and energy performance. 

llektra served as Senior Expert at the UN Environment Programme (2023-2025), leading data collection, quality control, and official UN-wide annual interactive reporting on energy and environmental performance of the UN system's facilities and operations across 1,000+ locations worldwide. She supported HQ and field teams across 63 UN agencies covering technical, functional and political inquiries, guiding them towards the calculation, submission and validation of their environmental performance data, using a new data collection and performance assessment platform and dashboards that she participated in creating. She led co-creation exercises and sharing of good practices and was the Lead Author of the official UN annul report on climate action and environmental performance of the Organisation.

She is a mentor for the Cities Forum, supporting mid-level urban planners on multi-stakeholder co-creation, public-private partnerships, collaboration with international organization and impacts of international policy to the local level. She participates in the knowledge series of the Cities Forum focusing on urban development trends in the context of climate crisis/action. 

In addition to authoring official EU and UN reports, she has authored published research in esteemed scientific journals analysing international cases and state-of-the-art in urban climate action, nature-based solutions, renewable energy systems and sustainable development.

Ilektra is certified in Project Management (PRINCE2) and trained in PM2 and has handled contracts totaling to several millions, from fund-raising to procurement, implementation and reporting within international organisations, while coordinating internal teams and consortia of external contractors. 

She is fluent in Greek, English, French and Portuguese.