Wilson holds a PhD in Politics and an MA in Governance and Political Development from the University of Nottingham. His research examines the evolving relationships between politics, popular culture and digital media, with publications covering topics such as China’s “wolf warrior” diplomacy, "wanghong" mayors and China’s digital governance.

Wilson's current research goes into two major directions. The first one is the political economy, fandom and subculture of Virtual YouTubers (VTubers). The second focus is to map the broader politics, performances and (sub)cultural expressions on the Chinese internet.