Elena Federici completed her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Psychology at the University of Zurich. During her Master's studies, she led the interactive introductory seminar for first-year psychology students for several years. She was also involved in various research projects and gained experience at the Chair for Work and Organizational Psychology as well as in the data collection of the 9th wave of the longitudinal study z-proso. She also worked as a student assistant in the Translational Neuromodeling Unit (Institute for Biomedical Engineering, ETH & UZH). Her Master's degree focused on neuroscience and neuropsychology. In her Master's thesis, she investigated the influence of parenting styles on emotion regulatory brain structures in children.

Currently, Elena Federici is pursuing her PhD in Psychology at the Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development at the University of Zurich. Her research focuses on developmental neuroscience. She conducts MRI studies with parents and children at the Children's Hospital Zurich. She is interested in intergenerational aspects and socioemotional brain development. Furthermore, she investigates the behavioral and neural similarities between friends and romantic partners. In addition to her research, Elena is passionate about science communication and is involved in projects that aim to make her research accessible to a wider audience.