Maria's research interests focus on environmental change and territorial transformations in rural areas of the Global South. Her fields of studies in environmental and development geography brought her to pay attention to the conflictive dynamics between economic globalization, internal armed conflicts, unequal geographies of development and local livelihoods. Nature conservation and development, peace and conflict and human rights are central to her current research interest. In a FORMAS funded project on Environmental Human Rights Defenders (2023-2026), she will conduct interdisciplinary research on EHRD in Colombia as agents of change at the crossroads of climate change, biodiversity and cultural conservation. 

Maria has many years of fieldwork experience in the Global South, in South America and Sub-Sahara Africa. As senior affiliate at the RWI she brings her research and teaching experience for capacity building activities in the Armenia, Zimbabwe, regional Africa and Belarus programmes. She teaches in diverse bachelor and master courses related to rural development, qualitative research methods, development in practice, ethics, human rights and HRBA to research cooperation.