Prof. Dr. Hilal Elver is a professor of international law and co-director of the "Climate Change, Human Security, and Democracy" project at the Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. From 2014 to 2020, she served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. In 2021, she was elected to the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of the UN Committee on World Food Security, and in 2022, she joined the UN Standing Committee on Food Security as a permanent advisor.

Between 2010 and 2014, Prof. Elver was part of Turkey's negotiation team for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. She is currently working on a book titled "Transformation of Global Food Systems through a Human Rights Approach."

Prof. Elver began her academic career at Ankara University Faculty of Law, where she served until 1994. During this time, she also held roles as the founding legal advisor for the Ministry of Environment and later as a legal advisor and General Director of the General Directorate on the Status and Problems of Women under the Prime Ministry of Turkey.

From 1994 to 1996, she chaired the UNEP Environmental Diplomacy Chair at the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies in Malta. Since 1996, she has worked as a visiting researcher and professor in various institutions worldwide.