Margarita Šešelgytė is the Director of the Institute of International Relations and Political Science (IRPS) at Vilnius University (VU). She has also worked at the Baltic Defence College (Tartu, Estonia), Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania and the European Committee under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania. In 2007 Margarita Šešelgytė defended her dissertation on the common EU defence identity at the IIRPS (VU). Šešelgytė is an Honorary Fellow at Baltic Defence College, a member at Ares Group scientific advisory board and a member of Editorial Board of the Journal on Baltic Security.