Director, China Initiative, RAND Europe

Dr Francesca Ghiretti is director of the RAND Europe China Initiative and a research leader at RAND Europe. Working primarily in Defence and Security, she leads work on China and on economic security. She is an adjunct fellow (Non-Resident) at the Wadhwani Center for AI and Advanced Technologies, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Previously, she was analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS), Europe’s largest think tank on China. She is the author of "Chinese Investments and the Economic Security Turn in Europe. Where economy and security meet" (Bristol University Press, 2025). She received her Ph.D. from the Centre for Grand Strategy, Department of War Studies at King’s College London.