Elena Di Giovanni is Full Professor of English Linguistics and Translation and co-Director of the International Master’s programme in Accessibility to Media, Arts and Culture (AMAC) www.masteramac.unimc.it.

She has a degree in Specialized Translation from the University of Bologna (Forlì) and a PhD in English for Special Purposes and Audiovisual Translation from the University of Naples Federico II and the University of Bologna.

From 2008 to 2016 she was Visiting Lecturer at Roehampton University, London, UK, Masters' Degree in Audiovisual Translation.

From 2010 to 2016 she was pro-Rector for the Development of Language Competences and Director of the Language Centre of the University of Macerata.

From 2010 to 2017 she was special projects Coordinator for SubTi Ltd (London) and SubTi Access (Torino), supervising the companies’ subtitling and accessibility-related projects throughout Europe and writing audio description and subtitling guidelines.

From 2016 to 2021, she was President of ESIST, the European Association for Studies in Screen Translation. www.esist.org

In 2019, she was Fulbright Distinguished Chair at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. She currently serves as a Fulbright project evaluator and Fulbright mentor.

In 2021, she delivered a TED X talk on accessibility and inclusion: 
https://www.ted.com/talks/elena_di_giovanni_dall_accessibilita_all_inclusione_consapevolezza_partecipazione_benessere

In 2023 and 2024, she was Visiting Lecturer at City University of New York, Bronx Community College, Department of World Languages and Cultures.

In 2024, she received the International Jan Ivarsson Award for her outstanding contribution to the fields of audiovisual translation and media accessibility.

Over the past years, she has delivered over 30 plenary lectures and served as international evaluator in European PhD committees at Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Universidad de Sevilla, Universidad de Murcia, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona), University of Belfast (UK), etc. She is manuscript reviewer for international publishers and project reviewer for several international institutions, including the European Science Foundation.

She is one of the founding members - and Editorial Board member - of the international, open access Journal of Audiovisual Translation (JAT): https://jatjournal.org

She is a member of the Editorial Committee of MediAzioni, an international journal for interdisciplinary studies on languages and cultures: https://mediazioni.unibo.it/

Since 2008, she has been actively working for the provision of accessibility to media, theatre and museums, with over 1,000 events made accessible so far.

She is the creator and coordinator of accessibility projects for major theatres and opera festivals across Italy. These include Fondazione Arena di Verona, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Teatro Grande in Brescia, Teatro Pavarotti-Freni in Modena, Macerata Opera Festival, Fondazione Pergolesi Spontini.

In 2024, the accessibility projects coordinated by Elena Di Giovanni brought over 2,000 persons with disabilities to theatres and festivals across Italy.