Overview

Dr. Francesca de Rosa is the Founder and Director of FDR Strategies, bringing a distinguished career marked by innovation and leadership in security, defence and preparedness.

She is an internationally recognised scientist, chartered engineer and practitioner with over fifteen years of experience at the intersection of game science, cognitive engineering, human-system integration, operational analysis and artificial intelligence. Her work bridges the space between rigorous research and the operational communities who need it most.

Her PhD in Artificial Intelligence - specilising in Interactive Cognitive Environments - and cognitive engineering studies, provides the theoretical foundation for her work on how games can be designed to imporve decision-making, problem-solving and learning at individual and organisational level. Her publication record includes peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, internationa conference papers and NATO technical reports. Furthermore, several of her games have been productize and adopted by organizations including local administrations worldwide, international bodies and academia.

Career

Dr. de Rosa built her foundational expertise over twelve years at the NATO STO Centre for Marittime Research and Experimentation (CMRE), where she developed advanced decision support systems, pioneered analytical wargaming and serious gaming for knowledge engineering and performed applied research in the fields of situational awareness, uncertainty communication and human-system integration assessment.

She subsequently founded FDR Strategies in 2022, providing strategic advisory and research services to national and international clients across security, defence and preparedness sectors. In parallel, she served as Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Scientist at the Center for Advanced Preparedness and Threat Response Simulation (CAPTRS) - a role that exemplifies the capability-building model at the heart of FDR Strategies practice. At CAPTRS, Dr. de Rosa built and led the organisation gaming, scientific and innovation capability from the ground up - demonstrating how organisations can develop, institutionalise and scale serious gaming internationally and locally. 

Research & Academic Leadership

Dr. de Rosa is an active researcher and a recognized leader in the international gaming community:

• Board memeber, Serious Game Society

• General, Programme and Keynote Chair, Game and Learning Alliance (GALA) Conference - multiple years

• Steering Committee member and invited panelist, Wargaming Initiative for NATO (WIN) - multiple years

• Member, NATO Research Task Groups on topics spanning wargaming and intelligence

• Adjunct Professor, Computer Games and Simulations, University of Genova (2020-2023)

• Research proposal reviewer and project monitor, European Commission - Research Executive Agency

• National expert on wargaming, Italian Ministry of Defence - Innovation and Strategy Office