Gabriela holds a PhD in Political Sciences and Public Administration from UAB Barcelona, and a CAS International Policy and Advocacy from ETH Zurich. She studied International Relations and Communication Sciences, and was a visiting scholar at Harvard University and ETH Zurich. She has worked as a lecturer at ITESM, researcher at UZH, and consultant for UNDP. At EPFL's Cooperation and Development Center (CODEV), holder of UNESCO Chair in Technologies for Development, she managed the Swiss (SERI) Leading House Program for scientific cooperation with India, Brazil, Vietnam and Latin America. Her research on scientific diasporas fostered global collaborations. She was founding advisor of Spring ACT, connecting human rights and technology. Since 2020, she has served as Vice-President of the Swiss Commission for UNESCO (member since 2016), promoting science-society-policy linkages and women's visibility in science.
In 2019 Gabriela joined EPFL's College of Humanities (CDH) as Deputy Director and Head of Unit. She serves on the Human Research Ethics Committee, and the SAR Switzerland Steering Committee, advocating for refugee scholars and academic freedom. She manages EPFL-UNIL CROSS funding for interdisciplinary research on societal and technological issues.