In this episode, Dominic Bowen and Robert Pratten discuss how crisis simulation and immersive storytelling are reshaping modern approaches to risk management, crisis preparedness, and organisational resilience. Drawing on real-world experience from the design and delivery of large-scale crisis exercises, they examine why many organisations struggle to translate risk plans into effective action under pressure….
By Conducttr In this episode of the International Risk Podcast, we are joined by Robert Pratten, storyteller, risk manager, and CEO of Conducttr, a platform providing high-standard risk simulation scenarios. “Stories are how we make sense of the world”. Organisational preparedness depends on how people interpret events, not just on whether procedures exist. In moments…
Robert Pratten is a UK-based entrepreneur, transmedia storyteller, and simulation specialist, best known as the founder and CEO of Conducttr, an immersive crisis-simulation and information-operations platform used by governments, defense organizations, and enterprises. Originally trained in marketing and consultancy within the telecommunications sector, his background in narrative design became the foundation of his later work in transmedia…
Written by Elisa Garbil – 19.12.2025 Scientific, social, and economic systems carry embedded risks when they are built on incomplete or biased information. In the study of human biology and behaviour, one of the most persistent sources of systemic risk arises from failing to account for sex differences and gendered experiences. As Cat Bohannon notes, …
Written by Elisa Garbil – 18.01.2026 Millions of people worldwide are forced to flee their homes to escape conflict, persecution, and systemic violence. Among displaced populations, survivors of torture face particularly complex and enduring risks that extend far beyond immediate physical and psychological harm. The long-term consequences of torture, compounded by the dangers of migration and the…
Dr Andrew Mumford is the University of Nottingham’s first ever Professor of War Studies. He is the editor of the Bloomsbury book series ‘Studies in Contemporary Warfare’ and Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of International Security (published by Cambridge University Press). He has published 4 books on facets of modern conflict. He has extensive experience in researching and engaging…
Grey zone warfare is not new. What is new is the role it now plays at the strategic level. Tactics that once sat at the margins of international politics have moved to its centre, shaping how states compete, coerce, and manage risk without crossing the threshold of open war. In a recent episode of The…
Today, Dominic Bowen hosts Dr Andrew Mumford on The International Risk Podcast to examine how grey zone warfare, hybrid tactics and strategic ambiguity are reshaping the contemporary security environment. They explore why sub-threshold activity has become a central feature of modern geopolitics, how states exploit ambiguity and deniability to pursue strategic objectives without triggering open…
Ambassador Hesham Youssef is a distinguished, former Egyptian diplomat and international peacebuilding expert, with more than thirty years of experience navigating some of the Middle East’s most complex political and humanitarian challenges. He began his diplomatic career at Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1985, serving in the Egyptian Embassy in Canada (1988–1992) and the Egyptian Mission in Geneva (1995–1999). Between 1992…
In this episode, Dominic Bowen and Hesham Youssef discuss the growing tensions and international risks between Egypt and Israel, the fragile state of regional diplomacy, and the pressures placed on long-standing agreements such as the Camp David Accords. Find out more about why Egypt views forced displacement from Gaza as an existential red line, how humanitarian…
