Eftichia Voutira studied Philosophy at the University of Chicago and at Harvard University, where she also received her PhD. She then completed postgraduate studies in Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, where she received her second doctorate. Since 1990, she has been a professor of Social Anthropology at the Department of Balkanology, Slavic and Oriental Studies at the Macedonian University of Thessaloniki. As an anthropologist, she has conducted extensive field research in the former Soviet Union, South and Central Africa, and the Middle East, and has published widely on refugee protection and humanitarian assistance.