Education

PhD in Sociology, Institute of sociology – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

MA in Sociology, Sofia University "St. Kl. Ohridski"

Biography

Todor oversees and supports research and methodological work at CSD, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration across teams. With over 19 years of experience in research and consultancy, he specializes in socio-economic and sociological studies on state capture, corruption, foreign influence, and disinformation. Before that he has worked also on topics such as innovation and energy policies. In recent years, his work has focused on leveraging open public data and big data analysis for policy evaluation, benchmarking, and monitoring. He also applies digital forensic and OSINT methods to uncover hidden networks that amplify the influence of foreign non-democratic governments and private interests in Europe.

Combining qualitative and quantitative approaches, Todor analyzes complex hybrid threats to democratic institutions, particularly their role in advancing geopolitical agendas. At CSD, he has contributed to the development of original cross-sectoral and multi-disciplinary methodological frameworks applied across Europe. These include:

• The Kremlin Playbook series – a landmark study assessing Russia’s economic footprint in 16 European countries and its influence on decision-making.
• State Capture Assessment Diagnostics – an innovative risk assessment framework offering national- and sectoral-level evaluations, piloted in multiple European countries.
• SceMaps methodology and analytics platform – an advanced system for assessing corruption risks in public procurement, integrating "red flag" indicators based on linked big data, company financial and ownership records, and media alerts.

Todor’s expertise lies in bridging data-driven methodologies with policy research to expose and mitigate emerging threats to democratic resilience.
 

Before joining CSD, Todor defended his PhD in Sociology at the Technology Studies Group, Institute of Sociology – BAS, where he worked as research fellow with academic specialization in the field of sociology of innovation and science technology studies. At the academy, Todor participated in several research projects within FP5, FP6 and FP7 of the European Commission, research grant programs of Sofia University, Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science, etc. His professional background included also teaching of lectures and seminars in the field of science technology studies and social research methods at Sofia University and Plovdiv University. He has been also member of the European Science Communication Network (ESConet), which organises training courses for European scientists. He has been also member of the Bulgarian Sociological Association and in 2006-2009 - member of its Executive Board.

Research Focus

Foreign economic and political influence; media capture, disinformation and propaganda; state capture and anticorruption.