Francesca Schmidt studied German language and literature, German linguistics and South Asian society, history and politics in Heidelberg and Berlin and graduated with a thesis on the culture of memory in Marlene Haushofer's prose.

She is currently a Programme Director on intersectional memory and transformation at Germany's Federal Agency for Civic Education (BPB). She is a former Senior Programme Officer at the Gunda Werner Institute for Feminism and Gender Democracy.

Her book "Netzpolitik. Eine feministische Einführung" was published by Barbara Budrich Verlag in 2020.

She is a founding member and board member of Netzforma* e.V. - Verein für feministische Netzpolitik. She is also active as a board member of FFBIZ e.V.. Francesca Schmidt deals with questions of the decolonisation of the digital, digital violence, surveillance and control, algorithms, artificial intelligence and their socio-normative implications.