Merit works as a development director in the IBS in the field of local and regional development. Her particular interest lies in the EU regional policy and its application at the local and regional levels of the EU member states which was also her Master`s science research topic at the London School of Economics and Political Science which she graduated in 2008. Since 2004 she has worked as a consultant for developing EU funded projects for local authorities, businesses and NGOs in Estonia and abroad. She has acted as a project manager and analyst of many development projects and studies. Recently she has been focusing on policy analysis and impact assessments especially in the field of EU cohesion policy and has been involved in several research projects with the government aiming to develop scientifically firm policy recommendations in the fields of local and regional development and in assessing the impact of EU cohesion policy. Since 2004 she has also acted as a research assistant in the Department of Public Administration in the University of Tartu and since 2008 lecturing in the Tallinn University of Technology on topics about EU integration, policies and multi-level governance arrangements in EU policy making.