Elio's research is an exploration into new visual and three-dimensional design vocabularies for thinking about ethical and social issues in the sciences, and it aims to contribute to the ongoing methodological debates in bioethics, science communication and the sociology of emerging scientific knowledge. The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the Biochemical Society, the Wellcome Trust, the University of the Arts, the Royal College of Art, the Arts Council England, and the Spanish Minister of Culture and Sport have funded his research projects.

His research has been translated and published in different languages, including French, Italian, German, Dutch, Croatian, Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, Mandarin and Korean. Phaidon, Thames & Hudson, Die Gestalten Verlag dgv, MIT Press, Bloomsbury, Centre Pompidou and MoMA have published his work internationally. He has authored chapters in numerous books, including Design as Future-Making published by Bloomsbury, a book which explores how design draws on and informs disciplines such as philosophy, sociology, anthropology, political science and psychology, and Creative Encounters: New Conversations in Science, Education and the Arts, published by the Wellcome Trust, a book that explores the many opportunities and questions provided and prompted by collaborations between artists, designers, educators and scientists. His latest chapter contribution is for the book Strange Design from Objects to Behaviours published by It Editions, a book which explores critical theory across the Italian Radical Design Movement, Conceptual Dutch Design and British Critical Design.

Elio’s research projects have been exhibited internationally at, for example, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Design Museum Triennale in Milan, the Science Museum in London, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts in Taipei, the Design and Applied Arts Museum in Lausanne, the Royal Institution in London and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. His research projects have featured prominently in exhibitions aimed at increasing public understanding of design's interface with science and society, and introducing new design ideas, methods and approaches to the public. For example, in 2008 the Museum of Modern Art in New York dedicated a space of its seminal `Design and the Elastic Mind' exhibition to Elio’s research projects Future (Now) Families and Hybrids: Towards a New Typology of Beings and Animal Products. The exhibition was visited by over half a million people from all over the world.

Over the years, Elio has been invited to present his Design Research projects at international design, sociology, and technology conferences, including the World Forum on Science and Civilization at Oxford University, the 9th World Congress of Bioethics in Croatia, and the Wuxi International Industrial Design Expo in China. Paola Antonelli (Senior Curator, Department of Architecture & Design and Director R&D, MoMA New York) has several times presented Elio's work during her TED talks viewed by four hundred thousand people. His international contribution to practice-based design research has been recognised with the acquisition of his project, MyBio Xenontransplant, in the permanent design collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Previous to his appointment at the Glasgow School of Art, Elio has held a Visiting Lecturer position in Design Interactions at the Royal College of Art, a Visiting Research Fellowship in the Cybernetic Department at the University of Reading and at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (IBE), Imperial College London. He has also held a Design Researcher position in the Interaction Design Studio at Goldsmith College and at the Policy, Ethics and Life Sciences (PEALS) Research Centre at Newcastle University.

Elio has contributed to the teaching and development of UG and PGT programmes at Royal College of Art, Central Saint Martins, London Metropolitan University, University of Dundee, Architectural Association School of Architecture, Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts (Qatar), Parsons School of Design, School of Visual Arts, Yale School of Art, Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design, the École Nationale Supérieure Des Arts Décoratifs, Eindhoven University of Technology, Politecnico di Milano (Visiting Professor), Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, Shenkar College of Engineering and Design, Hubei University of Technology (Honorary Professor), Chiba University and Maharashtra Institute of Technologies.

Elio is responsible for the MDes Design Innovation and Citizenship Studio 2 course. He has been personally involved with the MDes Design Innovation programmes since their initial inception, contributing to their development and growth over the years, and current international success. As a result of his role, he has developed, implemented and managed commercial and public sector collaborations with organisations such as NHS 24, Scottish Government, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Biochemical Society, AAC Clyde Space, Tesco Bank, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, Toshiba and Fujitsu.

Elio is also the founder of Elio Caccavale Design Studio, a design consultancy working across a wide variety of projects, including product design, interaction design, ethnography and forecasting research. He has consulted to global clients including Mattel, Orange, French Telecom and DMagic Mobile China.