Maria currently a student at UCL’s School of Slavonic and East European Studies, studying politics and sociology but increasingly specialising in security studies. In parallel, she is pursuing a degree in South-Slavic languages and civilisation at Sorbonne University. Her research and interests include Eastern Europe and Eurasia, as well as non-traditional security (NTS) issues, such as cybercrime, financial crime, terrorism, and ontological security. Alongside her year abroad in Budapest over the past year, Maria has contributed to research on the use of informal financial transfer systems in sanction evasion and terrorist financing in Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans.
The EU Enlargement Utopia: Why the Western Balkans are not guaranteed their place within the Union
EU enlargement in the Western Balkans is stalling not due to lack of political will alone, but because the accession framework assumes institutional capacities that many post-conflict states do not…
From Migrant Security to National Security: Hawala in the Western Balkans
Hawala is neither inherently illicit nor inherently benign; it is a dual-use financial system shaped by the institutional environments in which it operates. The Western Balkans demonstrate that effective governance…
The (Un)Strategic Bet: How Armenia’s June Elections Could Reshape U.S. Investments in the South Caucasus
Armenia’s deepening alignment with the United States has culminated in a landmark AI and nuclear partnership, but with parliamentary elections looming, the durability of this westward shift and the fate…