Irene Mia

Senior Fellow, IISS

Bio Current as of November 13, 2020

Irene is Senior Fellow for Latin America at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). In her role she is responsible for the research programme on Latin America security, governance, economics and development. She is also providing leadership and management of the Conflict, Security & Development programme activities and staff and she is the editor of the Armed Conflict Survey, one of the IISS flagship publications.

She was previously Global Editorial Director, Thought Leadership at the Economist Group, where she was responsible for leading and growing the Thought Leadership business globally (including by overseeing large global client relationships from an editorial perspective and delivering high quality content) and she played a key role in disseminating and presenting the Economist Group’s views and work to clients and other high-level audiences around the world. Previously, Irene was regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), where she provided intellectual and strategic leadership to the regional editorial team within the EIU’s Country Analysis division.

Before joining the Economist Group, she was director and senior Economist within the Centre for Global Competitiveness and Performance at the World Economic Forum, where she was also responsible for competitiveness research on Latin America and Iberia. She wrote and spoke extensively on issues related to national competitiveness and development, serving as lead author and editor on a number of regional and topical competitiveness papers and reports; notably, she was the editor of the Global Information Technology Report series for six year, one of the flagship publications of the World Economic Forum. Before joining the World Economic Forum, she worked at the headquarters of Sudameris Bank in Paris for a number of years, holding various positions in the international affairs and international trade divisions.

Her main research interests are in the fields of development, international trade, economic integration, innovation, competitiveness, cities and Latin America.

Irene holds an MA in Latin American Studies from the Institute for Latin American Studies, London University, and a PhD in International Economic and Trade Law from L. Bocconi. She speaks Italian, French, English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Irene is also a member of the board of trustees of Canning House, UK and a member of the advisory board of the Global South Unit at The London Business School of Economics (LSE), UK.