Maria Kavala is Assistant Professor of the History of Exclusion and Discrimination in the Modern World, at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. She studied history at the Ionian University and attended History courses at the Paul Vallery University, Montpellier, France (Erasmus). She completed her postgraduate studies and her PhD in history at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and at the University of Crete respectively, with a doctoral thesis on the social and economic history of Thessaloniki during the German occupation. In 2013 she completed her postdoctoral research on the topic: ‘The post-war demographic and social reconstruction of the Jewish community: marriages (1945-1955)’, with an Excellence Fellowship from the Research Committee of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

Her research interests include Greek social and economic history during the interwar, German occupation and postwar periods, especially the genocide of the Jews during WW II, the history of anti-Semitism in the 20th century, the history of refugee and immigration movements in Europe in the 20th century, gender issues, and the history of ideologies and practices of exclusion and discrimination in the 20th century.

In the course of her research career, she has been fellow of the Greek State Scholarships Foundation, the Aristotle University, Alberto Nar, the Latsis Foundation, Yad Vashem, Rothschild Foundation and Fulbright fellow at the UCSB (University of California, Santa Barbara).