About me

I am a political scientist and British Academy International Fellow in the Politics Department at The University of Manchester. I am also affiliated with The Mitchell Center for Social Network Analysis. I earned my PhD in Political Science from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

I work on political economy, money in politics, and corruption. I am especially interested in how extremely wealthy businesspeople (oligarchs) interact with politicians, political institutions, and the public to shape important political and policy outcomes in weakly institutionalized states. In my research, I draw heavily from the contemporary experience of Ukraine and other post-communist states, and utilize a variety of data collection and data analysis methods, including social network analysis, surveys and survey experiments, automated data collection techniques, and qualitative interviews.

I hold a Master’s degree in Global Studies from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Master’s degree in Political Science from Leiden University, and a Bachelor’s degree in European Studies from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. My research has been supported by The British Academy, The Rotary Foundation, The Institute for Humane Studies, and The Smith Richardson Foundation, among others.

For inquiries, comments, or drafts of working papers, I can be reached at silviya.nitsova@manchester.ac.uk.