Maili Vilson is Deputy Head for Academic Affairs at the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies, University of Tartu, Estonia since 1 March 2022. She is responsible for overseeing the organisation of studies in the field of Political Science and International Relations. She is also the Executive Director of the research and competence centre CEURUS (Centre for Eurasian and Russian Studies) at the University of Tartu.

Her ongoing research is twofold: 1) the Europeanisation of national foreign policy of EU member states, based on the example of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, 2) analysis of mass discourses in national identity development in Estonia and its implications for foreign policy.

Her previous publications have focused on the Eastern Partnership, as well as on the Europeanization of national foreign policy. She has served as an expert for several international think tanks as well the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia. Currently, she is running a project on building societal resilience and countering disinformation among Russian-speakers in Estonia, funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.

She is also involved in international training programmes focusing on Ukraine’s prospective accession to the European Union, targeted at Ukrainian public sector officials.