Maryanne Wolf is a cognitive neuroscientist and child development scholar who studies how the brain learns to read. She is a distinguished fellow and visiting professor at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, where she directs the Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice, and she previously founded the Center for Reading…
Stephanie Wolters has been working in the Great Lakes region since 1998. She was based in Kinshasa for six years as a correspondent for the BBC, Reuters, and The Economist, and later as chief news editor of Radio Okapi. Since then, Stephanie has worked in over 30 African countries for the World Bank, the International…
For most of the last century, mining felt like a distant industry, something happening underground, in remote corners of Africa, South America or Central Asia, disconnected from daily life in wealthy capitals. That perception was always something of an illusion, but it has become impossible to sustain. The minerals pulled from the ground today determine…
What do lithium batteries, Apple Watches and artillery shells have in common? They all trace back to the same tangled web of mines, minerals and geopolitics. In this episode of the International Risk Podcast, host Dominic Bowen sits down with Lisa Sachs, Director of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment at Columbia University’s Climate School,…
For more than six decades, USAID sat at the centre of the global humanitarian and development system. A little over a year ago, USAID became one of the first targets of the Trump administration’s DOGE campaign. Today, the hum and development sector is grappling with profound uncertainty at precisely the moment humanitarian needs are growing,…
Nicholas Enrich is a former civil servant who worked at USAID under four administrations. He served as the Bureau of Global Health’s director of policy, programs, and planning until January 2025, when he was designated as USAID’s acting assistant administrator for global health. On March 2, 2025, he was placed on administrative leave for exposing the Trump…
Why Does It Matter? Across societies around the world, violent extremism and radicalisation present profound risks to public safety, social cohesion, and community stability. These phenomena do not always follow traditional ideological lines, as they often emerge in diffuse, unpredictable ways, fueled by online communities, personal grievances, and distorted belief systems. Understanding the nature of…
Marcus D. King is Professor of the Practice in Environment and International Affairs in the Science and Technology in International Affairs Program (STIA) at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. He holds a joint appointment at Earth Commons, Georgetown’s Institute for Environment & Sustainability. Prior to Georgetown, King was the John O. Rankin…
Across Ukraine, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and now the Gulf, water systems are no longer just collateral damage. They are becoming targets and tools of coercion. Dams, desalination plants, pumping stations, rivers, reservoirs, and electricity grids are being pulled into the battlespace, with civilians paying the highest price. This matters far beyond the battlefield….
Jon-Paul Gabriele is a crisis management practitioner and founder of Crisis City, where he helps organisations prepare for the moments every business hopes will never happen but many eventually face. With more than 15 years of experience managing real incidents across government and global enterprises, he understands the difference between a crisis plan that looks…
