Maria Kaika holds a DPhil in Geography from the University of Oxford, an MA in Architecture from the National Technical University in Athens, and has professional qualifications as an architect. Her previous posts include: Fellow, St. Edmund Hall, Oxford; Director of Studies in Human Geography at St Hugh's College, Oxford; University Lecturer, Oxford University School of Geography; Junior Research Fellow, Linacre College, Oxford; and Lecturer in Human Geography at St Peter's College Oxford.
She is Editor of the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. In 2012, she was appointed City of Vienna Visiting Professor. Other appointments include: Executive Board Member, Remaking Cities Institute, Carnegie Mellon University. She was appointed member on International Evaluation Panel of the Academy of Finland (Research Programme on the Future of Living and Housing – 2010). She was a trustee for the Foundation for Urban and Regional Studies (2005-2010). She was a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Queen Mary Graduate School of Social Sciences (Sept-Dec 2007), Visiting Professor at the University of Leuven (2008) and Visiting Professor at the European University (EUREX) in Urbino (2006). She was the Treasurer of the Royal Geographical Society & Institute of British Geographers' Urban Research Group (2003-06), and Teaching Liaison Officer for the Royal Geographical Society (2001-2006).
Public lectures and keynote speeches include addresses at London's Royal Academy of Arts, London's History Society, and the Annual Meeting of the institute of Finnish Geographers. Maria Kaika is the Regular Research funding assessor for the ESRC, and for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). She was appointed peer reviewer of the European Science Foundation Standing Committee for the Social Sciences (SCSS), the European Union, the Georgian Science Foundation, and the Latsis Foundation. She has given seminars and public lectures for international academic institutions, policy organizations (UN Habitat, Royal Academy of Arts, Amnesty International, European Science Foundation, Architecture Foundation, European Environmental Bureau, Greek Environment Ministry) and the private sector (Seville Water company, Thames Water). Professor Kaika has acted as external examiner for the London School of Economics, UCL, Goldsmiths, the Universities of Otago, New Zealand, the National Technical University of Athens (Architecture), and the Harokopeio University of Athens (Geography).