Synthetic Biology, Global Risks and Benefits, and the Future of Engineering Life

Synthetic Biology, Global Risks and Benefits, and the Future of Engineering Life

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

Synthetic biology is increasingly recognised as one of the most consequential technological domains shaping global risk in the coming decade, with major implications highlighted in recent reports by the OECD and other international policy bodies. Advances in biological engineering are already transforming medicine, industrial production, and climate innovation, a trajectory documented in futures‑oriented assessments of…

Episode 310: Reengineering Life, Reshaping Risk: Synthetic Biology’s Benefits and Risks for the Global Community with Dr Tae Seok Moon

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

This episode with Dr Tae Seok Moon explores how synthetic biology is rapidly transforming medicine, climate innovation, and industrial production, while introducing new layers of international risk, ethical tension, and governance challenges. We examine how engineered biology is already being used to fight disease, reduce emissions, and address pollution, alongside growing concerns about dual-use risk, biosecurity, and…

Dr Tae Seok Moon

Dr Tae Seok Moon

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

Tae Seok Moon is a YouTuber, director of an NSF global center, professor at the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), Engineering Biology Research Consortium (EBRC) Council Member, SynBYSS Chair, Moonshot Bio founder, European Federation of Biotechnology (EFB) Executive Board Member, and editor of 10 journals, including the New Biotechnology Editor-in-Chief. His 32 funded projects have…

Security, Climate Change, and Risk in the Arctic and the High North

Security, Climate Change, and Risk in the Arctic and the High North

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

The Arctic and the High North are undergoing rapid transformation. Climate change is reshaping the physical environment, while shifting alliance dynamics and renewed geopolitical competition are altering how states think about security, access, and risk in the region. Yet despite growing attention, the Arctic is often framed through simplified narratives that overstate militarisation, exaggerate commercial…

Dr Paal Hilde

Dr Paal Hilde

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

Dr. Paal Hilde is professor of war studies at the Institute for Defence Studies (IFS), which is part of the Norwegian Defence University College. He earned his DPhil in politics at the University of Oxford (St. Antony’s College) in 2003. Paal has previously worked on policy planning and NATO at the Norwegian Ministry of Defence…

Episode 308: The Arctic and the High North: Evolving Security Dynamics and Strategic Narratives with Dr Paal Hilde

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

This episode with Dr Paal Hilde explores how climate change, alliance dynamics, and geopolitical competition are reshaping the Arctic and the High North, and why this region is becoming increasingly significant in global risk calculations. We examine how melting sea ice is altering maritime access and infrastructure stress, while also challenging long-held assumptions about security, commercial opportunity, and…

Dr Lev Breydo

Dr Lev Breydo

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

Lev E. Breydo is a scholar of law, finance, and technology whose work examines how credit markets, digital assets and AI shape the world economy and global risk. His research has appeared or is forthcoming in leading journals, including the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, North Carolina Law Review, American Bankruptcy Law Journal, and the…

Episode 304: Debt as Leverage: Sovereign Lending and Geopolitical Influence with Dr Lev Breydo

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

*This episode was recorded in October 2025* This episode with Dr Lev Breydo explores how sovereign debt has evolved into a strategic instrument of power in an era of heightened geopolitical risk. We examine how credit markets, financial infrastructure, and legal design now shape state behaviour, constrain autonomy, and function as tools of coercion below the threshold…

Sovereign Debt as Strategy: Credit, Constraint, and the Quiet Reordering of Power

Sovereign Debt as Strategy: Credit, Constraint, and the Quiet Reordering of Power

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

Sovereign debt is not new. What is new is the role it now plays at the strategic level. Instruments once treated as technical matters of fiscal management have moved to the centre of international politics, shaping how states exert influence, constrain rivals, and manage risk without overt confrontation. In a recent episode of The International…

Grey Zone Warfare, Strategic Ambiguity, and the Future of Conflict

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

Grey zone warfare has become one of the defining strategic challenges of the twenty-first century. Positioned between peace and open conflict, this domain encompasses cyber intrusions, election interference, disinformation, sabotage, covert maritime activity and the growing use of state and non-state proxies. In this episode of The International Risk Podcast, Dominic Bowen speaks with Professor…