Maria serves as a Senior Lecture in the Department of Political Science, Public Administration and Development Studies, Faculty of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaya. She obtained her PhD in Public Policy from Universiti Malaya under the University's Scholarship Award (SLAB). Her research interests encompass several domains, including policy and governance, public administration and urbanization. She also engages in researching Artificial Intelligence (AI) in relation to emotions and behaviours. Maria specializes in qualitative research, where she emphasizes the significance of human-centric understanding, particularly in conducting research within the social sciences.