Maria Mälksoo of the Brussels School of International Studies, University of Kent, joins the Hayseed Scholar podcast. Professor Mälksoo chats about growing up in a small town in Estonia during and at the end of the Cold War, the decision to go to the University of Tartu and her exchange year in Montana, and taking the GRE in Helsinki and getting her picture taken following a rainstorm. She talks about going to the University of Cambridge for her Masters, her return to Estonia and her work in diplomacy for the Estonian Ministry of Defense, and going back to the University of Cambridge where she completed her PhD under the supervision of Tarak Barkawi. Maria then discusses her work as a Research Professor at Tartu, her post-doc at LSE, and her current position at BSIS. Brent and Maria conclude by chatting about her approach to writing, her approach to decompressing, her fondness for running, being out in nature, traveling with her family and how IR will be transformed by the pandemic.