Gareth Heywood

Gareth Heywood works at the intersection of technology, open-source intelligence, and economic security. He is currently the Head of Government Relations at Datenna, a Dutch scale-up company that builds open-source intelligence tools for governments worldwide. He is principally responsible for managing the company’s relationships with governments spanning the UK, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Prior to his current role, he previously worked as a policy consultant for the Leiden Asia Centre, focused on the strategic implications of Chinese foreign direct investment in European advanced technology companies. He has also spoken at several conferences on Europe’s economic security, as well as a host of proliferation risks when doing business with Chinese entities. He also contributes to public debate on these themes through opinion pieces for RUSI and other platforms.

His research interests include:

• European economic security and risks pertaining to trade and investment relations with China.
• International sanctions circumvention networks and counter-proliferation.
• Deterrence theory and the impact of emerging technologies on strategic deterrence composition.

Gareth is a graduate of the University of St Andrews, Leiden Universiteit and Northumbria University.