Dr. Ghafele is a Research Fellow
at the Novak Druce Centre for
Professional Services Firms situated within the Said Business School of the University of Oxford. She also runs ‘Oxfirst Ltd.’ a boutique consulting firm specialized in the economics of innovation. From 2008 to 2011 she held a Lectureship in International Political Economy with the Oxford Department of International Development at the University of Oxford. In 2007/2008 she was an International Research Scholar with the Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley.

In 2002 she was selected as the only Austrian in several years to represent the Republic of Austria within the United Nations. Subsequently she worked as an Economist with the U.N.’s World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In this role she offered strategic advice on Intellectual Property, Trade and Innovation to Governments in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. In 2000 she started her career with the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, where she moved from a five year long experience as a ballet dancer.

Her Ph.D. was awarded the Theodor Koerner Research Prize by the President of the Republic of Austria. Dr. Ghafele was trained at Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies, the Sorbonne and Vienna University. During the course of her studies she was four times awarded the Vienna University Grant for Excellence in Studies. She is fluent in German, English, French, Italian and Persian.