Maria is a second-year student in Politics and Sociology at University College London's School of Slavonic and East European Studies. She is Russian-born but was raised in the South of France, which she ultimately considers her home. It's equally where her MUN journey first began, though she was nowhere near as involved as she has been since joining university. It is there that she discovered international courts as her, as she refers to it, "MUN niche"; she has gotten the chance to delegate, chair and even build a new court simulation in the circuit. Going abroad next year and planning to move on from MUN, ICJ at LYMUN is the last court she will be chairing, which makes it rather special and she is excited to share this experience with all the incoming delegates.

Once she is no longer in the circuit, Maria would like to focus on all the things she does outside of politics, namely self-teaching history of art, amateur photography, working in student media and sports (basketball in particular:))