Disinformation as Risk: Trust, Markets, and Influence

Disinformation as Risk: Trust, Markets, and Influence

For years, disinformation has been framed primarily as a political or media problem, associated with election interference, bot networks, and foreign influence campaigns. It is often treated as something external to core systems. It is portrayed as an issue for platforms, regulators, or communications teams to manage. Yet this framing obscures a more complex and…

Thomas Barton

Thomas Barton

Thomas serves as Executive Director of the CCOD, where he oversees the organisation’s management and strategic direction. In this role, he is responsible for shaping the Council’s policy positions and representing its members in engagements with key stakeholders. He is also the founder and CEO of Polis Analysis, established in October 2019, which specialises in…

Episode 348: Disinformation as Risk: Trust, Markets, and Influence

This episode with Thomas Barton, founder of the Council for Countering Online Disinformation (CCOD), explores the growing threat of online disinformation, examining how it has evolved from a political and media issue into a systemic risk for markets, institutions, and businesses. We discuss the often-overlooked domestic drivers of disinformation, how false narratives spread through financial…

The AI Bet: Huge Investment, Job Cuts, and Uncertain Returns

The AI Bet: Huge Investment, Job Cuts, and Uncertain Returns

AI is rapidly becoming a central axis of economic transformation, corporate strategy, and geopolitical risk. What began as experimentation with generative tools has evolved into a full-scale reconfiguration of how firms invest, operate, and compete. In a recent episode of the International Risk Podcast, host Dominic Bowen spoke with Craig Unsworth, a portfolio Chief Product…

Episode 345 The AI Bet: Huge Investment, Job Cuts, and Uncertain Returns

Today on The International Risk Podcast, we turn to the accelerating transformation of the global economy through artificial intelligence. Firms are making aggressive bets on future demand, and mid-market companies are grappling with rising costs, limited visibility, and mounting pressure to prove ROI. To help us make sense of this, we’re joined by Craig Unsworth, a…

Craig Unsworth

Craig Unsworth

Craig Unsworth is a commercially proven portfolio Chief Product Officer and Non-Executive Director who works at the intersection of Private Equity, AI, and product transformation. With two decades of experience and over 60 transactions under his belt, Craig partners with private equity firms and their portfolio companies to unlock growth, build capability, and accelerate value…

Taiwanese Politics and the China Question

Taiwanese Politics and the China Question

Cross-strait tensions are once again at the centre of geopolitical risk. For much of the post-Cold War period, Taiwan existed as a persistent but often background issue in international politics. Today, that is no longer the case. Intensifying US–China competition, rising military pressure from Beijing, and shifting domestic dynamics within Taiwan have brought the island’s…

Ukraine Missile Attack in Russia

Hypersonic Missiles, Nuclear Deterrence and the New Arms Race

Nuclear weapons are back at the centre of global politics. For much of the post Cold War era, they lingered in the background, casting a long but often ignored shadow over international affairs. Today, that shadow has sharpened. Great power rivalry has returned, arms control agreements are eroding, and emerging technologies are reshaping how states…

Episode 331: Hypersonic Missiles, Nuclear Deterrence and the New Arms Race

In this episode of the International Risk Podcast, Dominic Bowen speaks with Ankit Panda, Stanton Senior Fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and author of The New Nuclear Age: At the Precipice of Armageddon. The conversation moves beyond the hype to examine the structural drivers of today’s nuclear competition,…

Ankit Panda

Ankit Panda

Ankit Panda is the Stanton Senior Fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His research interests include nuclear strategy, escalation, missiles and missile defense, space security, and U.S. alliances. He is the author of The New Nuclear Age: At the Precipice of Armageddon (Polity, 2025),  Panda has consulted for the United…