Elisa Fornalé is one of the first international lawyers, to establish and continue to lead innovative research at the intersection of human migration and climate change. She has a proven record in securing significant research funding in this field, as demonstrated by the award of her SNSF project ‘Framing Environmental Degradation, Human Mobility and Human Development as a Matter of Common Concern (CLI_M_CO2)’ in 2017; a number of influential publications which were among the first works on the topic, as well as the organization of community-building workshops and international conferences. Elisa's leadership positions are reflected in her appointment as co-Rapporteur of the International Law Association (ILA) Committee on International Law and Sea Level Rise. She is currently the Work Package Leader for Climate of the Horizon Europe ‘Human Rights Justification’ project (States’ Practice of Human Rights Justification: A Study in Civil Society Engagement and Human Rights through the Lens of Gender and Intersectionality, 2023-2026).