Olimpia was a programme lead at Social Life from January 2020 to February 2024. Her expertise is in housing, the built environment, sustainable urbanisation, and evidence-based policy. Prior to joining the research team at Social Life, Olimpia collaborated across sectors alongside non-profits and international organisations in the United States, Argentina, and Romania. Some of her recent work examined the implementation of healthy housing standards across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, and the impact of anchor institutions on community wellbeing. Olimpia has over ten years of experience working and liaising with policymakers, public health professionals, and designers.
Originally from Romania, Olimpia lived for eight years in New York City, where she pursued her doctoral degree with a research focused on low-income housing and residents’ sense of home in immigrant neighborhoods in the United States and Argentina. Olimpia is committed to using research as a tool for designing a more equitable built environment that considers social and political contexts.
Olimpia holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from The New School for Social Research in New York City, an MA in Research Design and Data Analysis and a BA in Communication Studies from Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca.
