Anna joined the IES as a PhD researcher in the European Foreign and Security Policy Cluster in February 2009. She has studied political science and public law both in France and in Germany, at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques Lille and the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster. Anna also holds a Master of Arts in EU International Relations and Diplomacy Studies from the College of Europe. During her studies, Anna specialised in the field of development and security policy, looking in particular at the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy and EU-Africa relations. Furthermore Anna’s research interests include Chinese foreign policy and EU-China relations. At the College of Europe, Anna wrote her Master thesis on the implications of China’s Africa policy for the EU, a topic she continues to deal with at the IES.

Anna’s research project covers European Foreign and Security Policy,  EU-Africa  and EU-China relations. For her research she works in close cooperation with the Brussels Institute of Contemporary China Studies (BICCS). In her dissertation, Anna examines the impact of the growing Chinese presence in Africa for the EU. Africa being seen as the traditional sphere of influence of the EU, China’s increasing influence in Africa has become a symbol for the challenges of a new global order to which the EU has to adapt. More recently, Anna has become interested in European migration policy and in particular in its links with development policy in the context of the so-called “Migration-Development Nexus”. In addition, having worked for the Council of Europe, Anna has done some research on the EU’s neighbouring countries and more specifically on Russia.