Elisabetta Pietrostefani is interested in cities, inequalities, and data—particularly how new forms of data can enrich understanding in data-poor places. She is Lecturer in Geographic Data Science and Deputy Lead of the Geographic Data Science Lab at the University of Liverpool, where she joined the Department of Geography and Planning in 2023.

Her research combines digital trace data (including imagery) with traditional survey data to study vulnerability in urban settings, especially in contexts of disaster, whether conflict or natural hazard. Recent projects have examined the impacts of the Beirut Blast, the war in Palestine, the war in Ukraine, and floods in Pakistan.

Elisabetta holds a PhD in Planning Policy and Urban Economics from the London School of Economics, where she is also a Visiting Research Fellow. Before Liverpool, she was a Fellow in Geographic Data Science at LSE, where she designed a new course in Applied Geographic Information Science, and a Research Fellow at the Institute for Global Prosperity at University College London, focusing on well-being and inequalities in contexts of mass displacement. At UCL, she led and collaborated on projects funded by the Leverhulme Trust and UKRI Global Challenges Research Fund to investigate urban inequalities in the Middle East. She also serves on the End Data Disparity expert panel at Snowflake Inc.

Her work has informed international organisations including the IOM-UN Migration, OECD, UN-Habitat, and UNHCR.