Frances Cayton graduated with highest distinction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2018 with majors in history and political science. Her senior thesis, "A 'Third Possibility' Revolution: The Success of Émigré Reporting Networks at Radio Free Europe During Poland’s 1956 Thaw,” won the Frank W. Ryan Prize for the best undergraduate thesis by the Department of History. Frances has worked and interned in both non-profit and government settings, with experience at the Council on Foreign Relations, the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the Jan Karski Educational Foundation, and the Muzeum Historii Polski. Her current research focuses on the role of illiberal civil society in influencing national and religious populism in Poland.