Dr Maria Shagina is a Senior Fellow for Geo-economics and Strategy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
Prior to joining IISS, she held senior research positions at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs and at the Center for Eastern European Studies at the University of Zurich. Throughout her academic career, she conducted research at the University of Birmingham, University of Bern and Ritsumeikan University (Japan). Her research interests cover economic statecraft and economic security, with a particular focus on international sanctions. She has written extensively on Western sanctions and export controls towards Russia.
She consulted government agencies on sanctions, including the US State Department, the European Commission, the UK Foreign Office and NATO. Dr Shagina provided two oral testimonies to the UK House of Commons. Her research has been cited in The New York Times, Washington Post, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, BBC, CNN, Bloomberg, and Foreign Policy. She obtained a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Lucerne (Switzerland).