Mikaela Gavas is the Managing Director, CGD Europe and a Senior Policy Fellow.
In addition, she serves as a member of the Standing Advisory Group on Technical Assistance and Cooperation for the UN International Atomic Energy Agency. She was a Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons International Development Committee from 2018 to 2020. With almost two decades of experience in research, policy, advisory, and public affairs roles in political and parliamentary environments, she is an authority on international development strategy and finance, and a leading specialist in European development cooperation. Before joining CGD, she was the Head of the Overseas Development Institute's Development Strategy and Finance programme, comprising horizon-scanning, comparative analytics, bespoke advisory, and evidence-based problem-solving. She has worked as a strategy adviser to governments, including France, Italy, Republic of Korea, Qatar, Switzerland and the UAE. She was an adviser on European development cooperation in the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and has worked for a number of NGOs. Gavas holds a Master’s of Science in International Relations from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor of Arts degree in European Politics from the University of East Anglia. Her work focuses on European development cooperation and finance, and international development agencies and institutions.
