Eleni Zimi is Associate Professor of Classical Archaeology at the Department of History, Archaeology and Cultural Recourses Management of the University of Peloponnese. She graduated from the Department of History and Archaeology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (1990). With a scholarship from the "Sophia Saripolou" Endowment of the University of Athens, she completed her postgraduate studies in Classical Archaeology at the University of Oxford (Somerville College, 1991-1993) where she also completed her PhD thesis (Somerville College, 1993-1997). She was a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Greek and Roman Antiquity of the National Hellenic Research Foundation (1999-2001).

She has worked as an archaeologist in cultural and educational institutions in Greece (1997-2000), at the Ministry of Culture (Department of Museums, 2002-2003) and as a member of the Associate Teaching Staff at the Hellenic Open University (2000-2008). She has also taught at the Department of History and Archaeology of the University of Crete, where he was elected to the rank of lecturer in 2006. She has been teaching at the University of Peloponnese since 2004 and was elected Assistant Professor in 2009. Also, she has taught courses in Classical Archaeology at the University of Oxford (tutorials: 1997, 2016-2017) and at King's College London (2017-2020). From 2014 to 2018 she was a visiting scholar at the School of Archaeology, University of Oxford from 2014 to 2018.
She has participated in excavations in Greece (Kos, Panakton in Boeotia, Messini) and abroad (Libya) and has undertaken the study and publication of pottery and metal artefacts from excavations in the ancient Euseperides in Cyrenaica (modern Benghazi in Libya), Messini, Tinos (Xombourgo) and Kythnos (Vryokastro). She organized and coordinated the educational excavation in ancient Messini (University of the Peloponnese / Society for Messinian Archaeological Studies, 2011-2017). Since 2021 she is the Principal Investigator and Coordinator of the project "Northeastern Messenian Archaeological Survey (2021-2025)", which is conducted by the University of Peloponnese in collaboration with the Ephorate of Antiquities of Messinia. From 2022 she participates in the excavation at Kalamata Castle (University of the Peloponnese / Ephorate of Antiquities of Messinia).

She has participated in funded research projects as a scientific collaborator (e.g. EU research project Roman DRESSID, 2008-2012). She has presented papers at international conferences, has given lectures as an invited speaker at universities and institutions in Greece and abroad and has participated in scientific and organizational committees of international conferences, scientific networks and organizations. She is a member of the scientific committee for the Archaeological Works in the Peloponnese (AEPEL) conference and co-editor of its Proceedings. From 2019 to 2023 she served as the elected chairwoman of the International Association for Research on Pottery of the Hellenistic Period (I.A.R.Pot.H.P.).