The defining feature of today’s international system is not the emergence of a new balance of power, but the absence of a shared framework through which power is exercised. Rather than transition, the system is characterised by fragmentation, uncertainty, and weak consensus over rules, norms, and responsibilities. In a recent episode of The International Risk…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Very few bilateral relationships in the Middle East are as paradoxical as the one between Egypt and Israel. The two countries are bound together historically, geographically and diplomatically, one could say. They share what is today the region’s longest-standing peace treaty -the 1979 Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty-, but their relationship is characterized by strategic cautiousness and distance. Today, cooperation between Cairo and Jerusalem,…
Today, Dominic Bowen hosts Dr. Amgad Fareid Eltayeb on The International Risk Podcast to examine Sudan’s engineered famine, the influence of foreign backers, and the struggle of civilians caught between paramilitary violence and geopolitical ambition. They discuss how starvation, siege tactics, and external intervention have become central features of the war, driving one of the…
