Tag: The International Risk Podcast

Episode 153: Seeking Discomfort for Personal Growth with Kaitlin Wooley

Achieving personal growth often requires experiencing discomfort. What if instead of tolerating discomfort (e.g., feeling awkward or uncomfortable), people actively sought it out? To explore this pressing question, we are joined by Kaitlin Woolley. Kaitlin is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, specializing in motivation science. Leveraging insights from […]

Kaitlin Woolley

Professor Kaitlin Woolley is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the SC Johnson Cornell College of Business, where she studies questions related to consumer behavior and decision-making. Her particular expertise is within the realm of goal pursuit and motivation. Her research examines the psychological factors separating the goals consumers achieve from the goals they fail […]

Echo Chambers, Their Risks, and the Need for Discomfort

This week, we heard from Kaitlin Wooley, who recently conducted a study about how discomfort can lead to personal growth. As we learnt through speaking to Kaitlin, this growth comes in many forms, most notably in my opinion, an increased receptiveness to other perspectives. In Kaitlin’s study, this was shown to be applicable to political […]

Episode 147: The International Risks of Human Trafficking and People Smuggling with Roy McComb

A few weeks ago, we spoke to Nathan Paul Southern, who gave us a deep dive into the links transnational criminal organisations have to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Transnational crime is a topic so vast, it would be an injustice to only cover one aspect of it, given  its impact on international risk. Today, […]

The Serbian Elections – The International Risks and Why They Matter for Democracy

This week’s podcast had Dr Alexander Mesarovich discuss the Serbian elections, which took place towards the end of 2023. As discussed in the podcast, Aleksandar Vučić’s victory was not met with celebration, instead protests filled the streets of Belgrade, and other cities in Serbia, accusing Vučić’s party of fraud and calls for the elections to […]

Episode 145: The International Risks of the 2023 Serbian Election with Dr Alexander Mesarovich

Parliamentary elections were held in Serbia on 17 December 2023 to elect members of the National Assembly. While they were initially scheduled to be held by 30 April 2026, Aleksandar Vučić, the president of Serbia, called a snap election in November 2023, after previously announcing that snap elections could be either held in 2023 or […]

The International Risks of China’s Belt and Road Initiative – Philanthropy or a Hidden Pathway to Crime?

In this week’s podcast, Nathan Paul Southern showed us a far more ominous side to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and its links to organised crime worldwide. Criminal involvement is a little-studied aspect of the BRI, both in policy and research. This is problematic: neglecting to recognise that growth and trade generate huge international risks […]

Episode 144 – The International Risks of Transnational Organised Crime in South East Asia with Nathan Paul Southern

In this episode, we take a deep dive into the criminal underpinnings of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, as well as uncovering some of the lesser known transnational crimial activities taking place across South East Asia. We are thrilled to be joined by Nathan Paul Southern, an investigative journalist, a PhD Candidate at the University […]

Episode 140 – The International Risks of the Fukishima Waste Water Release with Zion Lights

Today we are joined by Zion Lights, a passionate science advocate and writer who wants to change the world for the better. She is the author of the book The Ultimate Guide to Green Parenting, the nature poetry book Only a Moment, and was a former spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion. She was the UK director […]

Episode 139 – The International risks associated with Russia’s Agression in Ukraine

Today, our podcasted is hosted by Ben Lawson, Intern at the International Risk Podcast, as we talk to Dominic Bowen. Every week we hear about the work Dominic does in the world of international risk, and in every episode Dominic shares some of his knowledge about international risk, to contextualise the questions he asks his […]