Elena Simanschi is a PhD candidate in the program of  Political Science, Public Policy and International Relations at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, under the supervision of Dr. Elisabeth Johansson-Nogués. She obtained a predoctoral contract (FI) from the Catalan Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR). Her Phd dissertation explores geopolitics of disinformation in the Eastern Neighbourhood. Her research fields are international relations, EU foreign policy, and geopolitics. She holds an MA in Finance from National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (Ukraine), and an MA in International Relations, Security and Development from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Previously, Elena worked as research assistant at IBEI in the framework of the research project VISIONS, led by Dr. Elisabeth Johansson-Nogués.