Elitsa is the Director of the Trade Policy Hub at LSE Consulting, which provides specialised advisory services in the area of trade and investment policy. The Hub recently became the first LSE project to secure government funding through Innovate UK’s ICURe programme. She is also an Associate at the International Trade Policy Unit of LSE and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

In parallel to her work at LSE Consulting, she received a PhD in international political economy from LSE. Her research focuses on international trade and European Union trade policy, particularly looking at the causes and effects of non-tariff measures and regulatory issues within trade negotiations. She specialises in the use of qualitative methods, including interviews, focus groups, and discourse analysis, to study the nexus between trade and regulatory regimes. Her current projects focus on assessing the impact of trade agreements on economic and sustainability issues, especially human rights, on EU-US-UK relations, and on ongoing EU trade negotiations.

During her studies, she taught International Political Economy; Government, Politics and Public Policy of the European Union, 2015-16; and Trade, Development and the Environment in the Departments of Government and International Relations. She is also a member of TradeExperettes, the European Network on Inclusive Approaches to Trade Policymaking (ENIATP); Governance and Economic Integration through Free Trade Agreements (GIFTA); University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES); and the International Studies Association (ISA).

Prior to joining LSE, she worked for the Bulgarian School of Politics, focusing on capacity building; Chatham House – on corporate and external relations, and the Directorate-General for Trade as a trainee.  

Expertise: international trade; European trade policy; trade negotiations; non-tariff measures; regulatory issues; preferential trade and investment agreements; sustainable development; sustainability impact assessments; human rights

LSE Consulting projects:

• The Economic Impact of Outward Direct Investment (ODI)

  Date: November 2024
  Client: Department for Business and Trade
  Author: Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, Riccardo Crescenzi, Elitsa Garnizova, Tzvetan Moev, Shania Bhalotia and Robin Baker

• Sustainability Impact Assessment of the Free Trade Agreement between the European Free Trade Association and Thailand

  Date: September 2024
  Client: EFTA Secretariat
  Authors: Andreas Freytag, Badri Narayanan, Elitsa Garnizova, Margaux Truc, Matthias Bauer, Nattapan Kongbuamai, Philipp Lamprecht, Pietro Freguglia, Robin Baker and Tony Zamparutti

• SMEs and Open Strategic Autonomy

  Date: July 2024
  Client: European Commission | DG for Internal market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs
  Authors: CSIL, IDEA Consult, PPMI, Trade Policy Hub

• Benefits of the Digitalisation of Trade Processes and Cross Border Barriers to their Adoption

  Date: May 2024
  Client: Department for Business and Trade
  Authors: Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, Robin Baker, Badri Narayanan Gopalakrishnan and Elitsa Garnizova

• Unleashing European Innovations for the Metaverse

  Date: April 2024
  Client: Meta
  Authors: Elitsa Garnizova and Hosuk Lee-Makiyama

• Research into Market Distortions in the Steel Sector

  Date: February 2024
  Client: Trade Remedies Authority (TRA)
  Authors: Trade Policy Hub, LSE Consulting

• UK Semiconductor Handbook

  Date: January 2024
  Client: UK Government Digital Trade Network
  Authors: Trade Policy Hub, LSE Consulting

• The relationship between trade and productivity: A feasibility study

  Date: September 2023
  Client: Department for Business & Trade
  Authors: Holger Breinlich, Stefania Lovo, Robin Baker and Elitsa Garnizova

• New avenues for functional cooperation at local and regional level in EaP countries

  Date: June 2023
  Client: European Committee of the Regions (CoR)
  Authors: Agnieszka Kulesa and Piotr Kazmierkiewicz, Riya Roy and Elitsa Garnizova

• Education Export Data: Scoping exercise

  Date: March 2023
  Client: Department for Business & Trade
  Authors: Robin Baker, Elitsa Garnizova, Hosuk Lee-Makiyama

• Global Value Chains: Potential synergies between external trade policy and internal economic initiatives to address the strategic dependencies of the EU

  Date: March 2023
  Client: European Parliament - DG for External Policies of the Union
  Authors: Alessia A. Amighini, Andreas Maurer, Elitsa Garnizova, Jan Hagemejer, Peter-Tobias Stoll, Marcus Dietrich, Riya Roy, Agnieszka Skowronek and Davide Tentori

• Comparative Analysis of TSD Provisions for Identification of Best Practices to Support the TSD Review
  
  Date: February 2022
  Client: European Commission - DG Trade
  Authors: Jean-Baptiste Velut, Daniela Baeza Breinbauer, Marit de Bruijne, Elitsa Garnizova, Matthew Jones, Kevin Kolben, Lise Oules, Virginie Rouas, Faith Tigere Pittet and Tony Zamparutti

• What's the Impact of Investing in Trade and Supply Chain Finance?

  Date: September 2021
  Client: CDC Group
  Authors: Elitsa Garnizova, Sangeeta Khorana

• Vulnerabilities of Supply Chains Post-Brexit
  
  Date: September 2020
  Client: Arla Foods
  Authors: Nikhil Datta, Jan Bakker, Elitsa Garnizova & Josh De-Lyon   

• Trade policy expertise to European Parliament
  Research Network to provide foreign policy expertise – Lot 7 Trade
  
  Client: European Parliament
  Experts: Stephen Woolcock, Andrew Lang, Jan Kleinheisterkamp & Elitsa Garnizova

• Ex-ante Study of the EU-Australia and EU-New Zealand Trade and Investment Agreements
  
  Date: April 2017
  Client: European Commission - DG for Trade
  Authors: Andreas Freytag, Elitsa Garnizova, Matthias Bauer, Christian Häberli, Philipp Lamprecht, Andrew Lang, Badri Narayanan, Susan Brown-Shafii, Stefania Lovo, Jean-Baptiste Velut, Badri Narayanan, Catherine Grant Makokera, Peter Draper, Bregtje Kamphuis, Charles Xiao & Shiziu Zhang

• Trade Sustainability Impact Assessment of the Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and Japan
  
  Date: April 2016
  Client: European Commission - DG for Trade
  Authors: Elitsa Garnizova, Philipp Lamprecht, Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, Stephen Woolcock, Patrick Messerlin, Duncan Brack, Stefania Lovo, Ken Heydon & Michal Krol

• Assessment Study of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Myanmar
  
  Date: December 2014
  Client: International Labour Organization
  Authors: Simona Milio, Elitsa Garnizova & Alma Shkreli