William Kingston-Cox

Will Kingston-Cox is an ESRC-funded DPhil student in Area Studies (Russian and East European Studies) at Lincoln College, supervised by Professor Mihail Chiru. He holds a BA in History and Politics from the University of Warwick and an MPhil in Russian and East European Studies from the University of Oxford.

Will’s DPhil research examines electoral change in Moldova, a polity historically divided along pro-European and pro-Russian party lines. He investigates when and why voters prioritise parties’ policies and performance over identity and patronage, and how this varies across regions, including Gagauzia and Transnistria. Combining electoral analysis with survey and interview fieldwork, he explores whether the Europe–Russia divide is becoming less decisive in voters’ choices amidst Russian interference and Moldova’s simultaneous pursuit of European integration and Transnistrian reintegration.

Will founded Europinion, an independent media outlet and research organisation, in 2023 and leads its work on disinformation, democratic resilience and media literacy. He is also Principal Investigator on a collaboration with Oxford’s Computational Political Science Group examining disinformation networks and democratic trust in EU member states. His professional experience includes open-source intelligence reporting on Moldova and Transnistria, analysis published by the German Marshall Fund and The Hill, commentary for France 24, and presenting research and policy recommendations to the European Parliament.