Elena-Loreni Baciu works as an Associate Professor at the Department of Social Work within the Faculty of Sociology and Psychology at West University of Timisoara. She obtained a Ph.D. in Sociology in 2010. In 2017, she gained her Habilitation in Sociology, and in 2018 she joined the Doctoral School in Sociology at WUT. Her main research interests are focused on the social and economic inclusion of disadvantaged groups and the development of institutional arrangements for advancing progress in this area.