Student Ambassador: Ekaterina Chabykina

When I first heard the word MGIMO, I pictured myself working as a diplomat at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, speaking fluently at least two languages. If you attracted by such a career, you should definitely consider choosing Government, International Politics and Law for your undergraduate degree. Even if you are not sure what kind of path will look exciting to you by the time you graduate, but you enjoy open debate, non-conventional perspectives on everything and you love to wear a suit (just kidding), MGIMO will definitely help you to grow as a person and discover new professional strengths and inclinations.

My professional journey truly started once I mastered three languages — English, French, and Arabic — and was invited to intern at the Congress of the Syrian National Dialogue and—unusually for a girl—the Secretariat of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. To be honest, my education at SGIA gave me all that it takes to be a successful candidate for a position at the United Nations Secretariat in Geneva, where I worked after graduation at the Implementation Support Unit of the Biological Weapon Convention. It was a wonderful experience, but you never know where life takes you next. Today, I serve in the multilateral cooperation department of the Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent), studying for an LLM degree, researching and publishing on intellectual property issues.

Please feel free to reach out to me at Chabykina.katerina@gmail.com if you want to learn more about my SGIA experience and how it contributed to my career progress after graduation.