Marija Ristic is an award-winning journalist, currently serving as the editor in chief and CEO of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, a network of seven non-governmental organizations promoting freedom of speech, human rights and democratic values in Southeast and Central Europe. She started her career as a journalist covering war crimes in Serbia, and was responsible for building the capacities of local media and civil society in order to promote intercultural dialogue across Southeastern Europe. In 2019, she won the European Press Prize and Press Freedom Award from Reporters Without Borders. Ristic is a graduate of the Geneva Academy for International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights and former fellow at the Free University Berlin and Columbia University New York.