Elvira Uyarra is Professor of Innovation Studies at Alliance Manchester Business School (University of Manchester) where she is also Executive Director of the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research. Elvira is also adjunct professor at the Mohn Center of Innovation and Regional Development at the University of Western Norway and visiting fellow at the Centre for Innovation Management Research (CIMR) of Birkbeck, University of London. She teaches and conducts research on science and innovation policy and management and on regional innovation. 

Elvira has a degree in Economics from The University of the Basque Country (Spain), an MSc in 'Technical Change and Regional Development' from Cardiff University and a PhD in Science and Technology Policy from the University of Manchester. She is a fellow of the Regional Studies Association (RSA) and editor of Regional Studies.

Her research and teaching activities centre mainly in the areas of: regional science and innovation policy, EU policy and regional cohesion, geographies of knowledge and innovation and evolutionary economics. She has researched several projects in these areas, particularly for the European Commission, but also for other clients at national, regional and local levels, both in the UK and Spain.