Francesca Ghiretti

Francesca Ghiretti is an analyst at MERICS where her research focuses on EU-China relations and economic security, the Belt and Road Initiative and development, China's footprint in Southern Europe and UK-China relations. Before joining MERICS, she worked as a Research Fellow Asia at the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) and also worked as a geopolitical analyst for the London-based hedge fund CQS, and as assistant to Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, former Secretary General of NATO. Francesca received a PhD from King’s College London, where she was a Leverhulme fellow at the Centre for Grand Strategy, and holds a master's degree in International Relations and Diplomacy from Leiden University and the Clingendael Institute.