Maria Gunko is a DPhil Candidate in Migration Studies, Hill Foundation Scholar at the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography University of Oxford. Since 2023, she has joined Yerevan State University as a Visiting Professor. Maria holds an MSc and Kandidat Nauk (Russian post-graduate degree) in Human Geography. Her previous work experience includes the Institute of Geography RAS (Moscow), Center for the Economy of the North and Arctic (Moscow), Higher School of Economics (Moscow). She was also a Visiting Fellow at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography (Leipzig) and at the Institute of Geography Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris). Maria’s research interests lie in the intersection of urban studies and social anthropology, including ethnography of the state, infrastructures, and urban decay with a geographical focus on Eastern Europe and the Southern Caucasus. She is the co-editor of one monograph, author of over thirty scientific articles and op-eds.