hosted by Professor David W. Ellwood


Adele Airoldi is an expert in environment, health and consumer protection, with a focus on Arctic-related issues.

Airoldi is an alumna of JHU SAIS Bologna, where she studied in 1970-71, after graduating in classics at Milan State University. She earned a Master in Environmental Sciences at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in 1979 and a M.Phil. in Polar Studies in 1989, having spent a sabbatical at the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge University. In 1994/95 she was EU Fellow in residence at the Center for International Affairs at Harvard University.

Airoldi started working in the European institutions in Brussels in 1972, first as a translator in the Commission, then, from 1981, as administrator in the Secretariat of the Council of Ministers. At the Council she dealt with EU policies on research (1981-1984), the environment - chiefly international environmental negotiations (1984-2000), and health and consumer protection (2000-2004).

Since her retirement in 2004, Airoldi has been active on Arctic matters, both in the EU context and in cooperation with different institutions, writing on Arctic issues and taking part in conferences on the Arctic. Inter alia, she worked with Greenland's Representation in Brussels, the Danish Polar Center and the Nordic Council of Ministers, where she was responsible for writing three detailed reports covering EU/Arctic interaction until 2014.