Our team members

PIL Director with over 15 years of experience with design, implementation and evaluation of social interventions and policies, and MA in International Development Policy in the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (2012). Elma works in a research and evaluation management capacity both in research departments within third and public sector organisations, as well as an external consultant supporting the social missions of organisations globally through evaluation and adaptive management guidance. Geographically, her work has centered in and around Europe, Africa and Latin America. Elma is passionate about democratisation and human rights and works with related thematic areas, lately especially in migration governance as well as culture & social nexus. Elma is currently coordinating ongoing evaluation, technical assistance, knowledge management and communication services in support of the International Centre for Migration Policy Development - ICMPD’s implementation of the Migration Partnership Facility. She is also involved in two large-scale cultural projects, including managing a research and evaluation team for the Creative Europe-funded Magic Carpets platform, and facilitating design thinking in the development of Lithuania’s Digital content “eCulture” platform for digitised and digital cultural and audio-visual content.

Besides becoming a mother, starting Policy Impact Lab was Elma’s greatest achievement to date. Both happened within the same half-year period. PIL was born of the need to reinvent herself after motherhood, which came with the realization that she has to live by what she believes in - the world can be a better place, and so can the workplace.  

Since 2017, Elma has facilitated access to meaningful consulting assignments to over 100 researchers, of whom around 15 on a regular basis as a key source of income. With all of their support, Elma has supported several dozen organisations to learn about how their programmes and policies work and how to make them work better. Elma will always be grateful to PIL’s co-founder Andrius Tursa who has since transitioned to another professional journey, but who played a major role in making this project a reality.

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