Dr. Elias is an Associate Professor at the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building construction and City Development (EiABC) of the Addis Ababa University. He is an educator, a researcher and a practitioner in the fields of Architecture and Urbanism with extensive experience and focus on Housing. He is the co-editor of the book entitled “The Transformation of Addis Ababa: A Multiform African City” (2018).  He had been a member of the Addis Ababa Urban Age Task Force, an international body, established to advice the city, among other things, on “housing and urban intensification”; out of  which he authored a report entitled: “The Addis Ababa City Block: Inclusion and livelihood through the horizontal-above-vertical concept” (2022). He was the former President of the Association of Ethiopian Architects and the research director of EiABC.