In 2000, Elena Sumko graduated from Polotsk State University. Her master's thesis was defended in 2001. In 2009, she graduated as a Candidate of Historical Sciences with an emphasis in National History. In 2011, she received the academic title of Associate Professor with a focus on "History." She is currently enrolled in Belarusian State University to pursue a doctorate in "Ethnology, Ethnography, and Anthropology".

Currently teaches the following disciplines:

She actively participates in the work of the Oral History Center and field research at Polotsk State University.

She is involved in projects under the patronage of the Belarusian Republican Foundation for Fundamental Research, including: "The Semantics of the Traditional Cultural Landscape of Belarusian Podvinye: Evolution and Transformation in the 20^th – Early 21^st Century"; "Childhood Subculture in the Discourse of Oral History, Language, and Folklore of the Vitebsk-Pskov Borderland in the 20^th to Early 21^st Century" (BRFFR-RFBR).