Francesca Cornaglia is currently a Reader at the Department of Economics, Queen Mary University of London. Her main interests are in health economics, labour economics, and applied micro-econometrics.

After completing her first degree, BSc Hons in European Business with Technology at Brighton University in 1993, she obtained a Diploma in "Esperto della Produzione Industriale" at Turin Polytechnic. She worked for Pirelli Ltd, Carlisle, UK as Industrial Engineer and as Information Officer at Confindustria, Torino. In 1994 she continued her studies in Economics at the University of Turin, where she received her degree (Laurea in Scienze Politiche, specialization in Economics) with distinction in 1999. She also received a Master in Economics at Coripe Piemonte on 1998. In 2005 she received her PhD in Economics from the University of Turin. She completed her British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellowship in 2008.

She holds a researcher position at the Centre for Economic Performance – LSE.

She joined IZA as a Research Affiliate in May 2003 and became a Research Fellow in May 2008.