Francesca was elected in 2025 Member of Academia Europaea in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Class.

The object of Academia Europaea is the advancement and propagation of excellence in scholarship in the humanities, law, the economic, social, and political sciences, mathematics, medicine, and all branches of natural and technological sciences anywhere in the world for the public benefit and for the advancement of the education of the public of all ages. The aim of the Academy is to promote European research, advise governments and international organisations in scientific matters, and further interdisciplinary and international research.

The Academia Europaea was founded in 1988, on the initiative of the UK's Royal  Society and other National Academies in Europe. The Academia Europaea members, some 6000 currently, are eminent, individual scientists and scholars, who cover the full range of academic disciplines (see: www.ae-info.org). Membership is by invitation only, and invitations are made only after peer group nomination, scrutiny and confirmation as to the scholarship and eminence of the individual in their chosen field.