Elina Harms | Content Team

Home Country: Germany

Elina Harms is a Master’s candidate in International Affairs at the Hertie School in Berlin, Germany, with a concentration on human rights and global governance. As an interdisciplinary student, she is specializing in human rights and humanitarian action, aiming to address the challenges in the context of migration towards Europe.  Elina holds a Bachelor’s degree in Geography from Leipzig University, where she focused on political geography and border studies, and completed a thesis on grassroots humanitarianism within the European border regime in Serbia.  

Elina has hands-on experience in humanitarian fieldwork and advocacy and has worked with several international NGOs. As a volunteer and advocacy officer with Collective Aid and the Border Violence Monitoring Network, she provided humanitarian aid to people on the move in makeshift camps on the Balkan Route and documented pushbacks and human rights violations along the EU’s borders. She further has been involved in civil search and rescue since the beginning 2024. During an internship with SOS Humanity, she supported the Advocacy Team in raising public and political awareness of the humanitarian disaster in the Mediterranean and has continued to do so as a volunteer ever since. 

Besides her studies and political engagement, you can find Elina reading a good book, cooking with friends or exploring new places together with her dog.