Elia Petridou is a social anthropologist specializing in material culture. She did undergraduate studies in Business Administration at the Athens University of Economics and Business and postgraduate studies in Social Anthropology at the University of the Aegean, the University of Edinburgh (MSc) and University College London (UCL), where she completed her PhD (2001). She has been working at the University of the Aegean since 2002, teaching a variety of courses on material culture (anthropology of food, consumption, clothing, museum representation, etc) as well as introductory courses in Social Anthropology.

For many years, her research interests and publications concerned the production, exchange and consumption of food in Greece as well as issues of European policy, ethnic identity and migration in relation to food. Over the last decade, her research interests are mainly focused on the study of clothing, mostly with relation to social theory, body movement, museum representation and migration. Currently, she is interested in clothing as a form of humanitarian aid and in circular economy. She participates in the European Programme Fabric of my Life which concerns the empowerment and integration of refugee women through fabric-related projects.

Since 2013, she is treasurer at the Hellenic Costume Society. She speaks English, German and Spanish, and has basic knowledge of French and Arabic.