Power Talk with Mrs. Maria Spirova: Oxford University breakthrough on global COVID-19 vaccine

Following up our Expert Talk series related to today's hot topic - COVID-19 vaccination, our team decided to invite one incredible person who was part of Oxford University breakthrough on global COVID-19 vaccine.

We were honored to talk with Maria Spirova, an award-winning Bulgarian journalist, based in Oxford, UK. In July 2020 Maria volunteered in the Astra Zeneca vaccine trial at the University of Oxford vaccinology laboratory, under the supervision of Professor Sir Andrew Pollard. She is currently part of a new University of Oxford clinical trial which aims to follow up whether any long-term effects of the vaccine are possible.

Maria works as an editor at a legal publishing house in London and is regularly reporting on British and European politics. She has over 10 years of journalistic experience in Bulgaria and abroad and has won international awards for her reporting and analysis in Bulgarian and English. Since 2004, she has held various editorial positions with the Bulgarian News Agency, Glamour and other national media outlets in Bulgaria. Maria studied Cultural Anthropology at Sofia University, specialised in Journalism & Media Studies at Ithaca College, New York, and National Geographic HQ in Washington, DC. She holds an MSc in Criminology & Criminal Justice from Oxford University, having been awarded one of the inaugural Weidenfeld Scholarships. She began her career covering art, science and human interest topics before graduating to global health, inequality, social justice, crime & safety.

Watch the whole video here.