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 was a visiting scholar at Harvard University, ETH Zurich and UZH. At EPFL's Cooperation and Development Center (CODEV), holder of the 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 contributed to 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), fostering cooperation across science, education, and culture, and liaising with authorities and civil society on UNESCO-related matters.
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 (HREC), and the Scholars At Risk (SAR) Switzerland Steering Committee, advocating for refugee scholars and academic freedom. She manages EPFL-UNIL CROSS funding for interdisciplinary research on societal and technological challenges.