Elin Westerling is the Research Assistant of the Climate Change and Democracy, Global Programmes, in Stockholm.

Elin joined International IDEA in Februray 2023. Her role at the Institute is to assist the institution-wide Climate Change and Democracy Initiative in its inception phase. She is responsible for conducting research to analyse diverse aspects of the Climate Change and Democracy nexus. She, moreover, provides programmatic support for the development and implementation of the new workstream, which includes helping establish partnerships with actors in the Climate Change and Democracy field internationally.

Elin has an academic background in Peace and Development Studies with a focus on environmental policy. Prior to joining the Institute, she completed internships with the Permanent Representation of Sweden to the EU, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and with a Sida-funded Swedish-Indian civil society cooperation, where she worked in Tamil Nadu, India, on programmes focusing on Indigenous land rights and environment, climate change and livelihoods issues. She has, moreover, volunteered with the Red Cross and Engineers Without Borders, as well as several student-led initiatives in the field of development cooperation.