Programme and Speakers
Meet our speakers
Leading experts in their fields sharing insights and experiences
Keynote:
Anders Fogh Rasmussen has been at the centre of European and global politics for more than three decades—as Secretary General of NATO, Prime Minister of Denmark, Danish Minister of Economic Affairs, and a leading Danish parliamentarian. He is the Founding Chairman of Rasmussen Global, where he advises companies and democratic governments around the world
Former Prime Minister of Denmark, and Secretary General of NATO 2009-2014
Keynote:
Andrew Roberts is an English popular historian and journalist. He is the Bonnie and Tom McCloskey Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and a Lehrman Institute Distinguished Lecturer at the New York Historical Society. He is also a Trustee of the Margaret Thatcher Archive Trust.
Historian and Journalist
Opening Address:
Rupert Soames is Chair of Smith+Nephew plc, a global medical-technology company listed on the FTSE 100, having been appointed an Independent Non-Executive Director in April 2023 and Chair in September 2023. He has extensive global leadership experience from senior executive and board roles, including serving as Group Chief Executive of Serco Group plc and as Chief Executive of Aggreko plc. He completed his two-year term as Chair of the Confederation of British Industry in December 2025. He is a grandson of the former Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill.
Businessman and grandson of Winston Churchill
Panellist:
Beatrice Heuser is an historian and political scientist, whose research interests are centred on war. Her expertise lies mainly in Europe and the “West”, especially Britain, France, Germany, and the USA, but also touches on Russia. She held the chair of International Relations at the University of Glasgow until autumn 2024 and is now Distinguished Professor at the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy at the Free University Brussels.
Historian and political scientist
Panellist:
Chandrika Kaul is Professor of Modern History at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. Her research interests focus on British imperialism and decolonisation, the monarchy, media, and popular culture. She has published widely in these areas as well as being passionate about public history contributing frequently to national and international media. Her new monograph is on the BBC and India (Oxford University Press, 2026, forthcoming).
Modern British, Imperial and Media Historian
Panellist
David Reynolds is Emeritus Professor of International History at Cambridge University and a Fellow of the British Academy. His fourteen books include In Command of History: Churchill Fighting and Writing the Second World War (Wolfson Prize) and The Long Shadow: The Great War and the 20th Century (Hessell-Tiltman Prize).
Historian and author
Panellist:
Patrick Salmon is an historian of diplomatic history with a focus on Scandinavia. He is Chief Historian at the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. In 2001, he was a Fellow at the Norwegian Nobel Institute. He is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.
Historian of Diplomatic History
Panellist:
Brendan Simms is Professor of the History of International Relations in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge, where he is also founder and Director of the Centre for Geopolitics.
Professor of the History of International Relations
Panellist
Secretary Chertoff is an attorney and federal prosecutor, who was chief of the criminal division of the Justice Department during and after the September 11 attack. He then served as United States Secretary of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush. Afterwards, he co-founded the Chertoff Group, a risk-management and security consulting company.
Former United States Secretary of Homeland Security
Panellist:
Lord Dannatt is a retired senior British Army officer and was Chief of the General Staff (professional head of the British Army) from 2006 to 2009.
Former Chief of the General Staff, British Army
Panellist:
Admiral McConnell is an Intelligence, national-and-cyber security executive and former Director of US National Intelligence. He spent more than 29 years in the US Navy, and subsequently served as Director of the US National Security Agency.
Former Director of US National Intelligence
Panellist
Rear Admiral Dr Christopher John Parry was an aviator and warfare officer in the Royal Navy. As a senior officer, he held four policy, operational effectiveness and future concept development appointments. Nowadays he runs his own strategic forecasting company, advising governments, leading commercial companies and banks about strategic issues, high-level leadership and systemic risk. With blue chip companies, he helps generate competitive advantage through the forecasting of future geopolitical developments, emerging trends and investment opportunities.
Former Director General, Development, Concepts and Doctrine, Royal Navy
Panellist:
Suzanne Raine is the Master of Selwyn College, University of Cambridge. She served for 24 years in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office on foreign policy and national security issues, including postings in Poland, Iraq and Pakistan. She was Head of the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre from 2015-2017 and Director of Counter-Terrorism from 2017-19. Since leaving the civil service in 2019 she has engaged with academia through the Centre for Geopolitics in Cambridge and as a Visiting Professor at Kings College London. She writes and lectures on risk analysis, anticipation and warning.
Former Head of the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre
Panellist:
Dame Diane Coyle is a British economist whose research focuses on productivity, the digital economy and AI policy, and economic measurement. She is the Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge, where she is also the Research Director at the Bennett School of Public Policy.
Research Director at the Bennett School of Public Policy
Panellist
Christopher Ling is a senior tech and cybersecurity leader and government
contractor. He is CEO of Ericsson Federal Technologies Group, a new entity dedicated to delivering 5G-driven digital transformation across multiple agencies in the U.S. federal government, created by the Swedish multinational company, Ericsson.
Technology and cybersecurity leader
Panellist:
Ofir Zigelman is Director of Product Management, Expansion Strategy at
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon’s cloud and AI unit, and a Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Geopolitics, University of Cambridge, where he researches AI and world order. He previously served as a Senior Intelligence Officer in the Israeli
Prime Minister’s Office.
Director of Product Management, Expansion Strategy at Amazon Web Services
Panellist:
Professor Sharon Peacock is a British microbiologist who is Professor of Public Health and Microbiology in the Department of Medicine at the University of Cambridge, and Master of Churchill College, Cambridge. In 2020, she led the development of the COG-UK consortium, which provided genomic sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 virus during the pandemic response.
Professor of Public Health and Microbiology; Master of Churchill College, Cambridge
Panellist
Sir David Spiegelhalter is a British statistician and a Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge. From 2007 to 2018 he was Winton Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk in the Statistical Laboratory at the University of Cambridge.
Statistician
Panellist:
Laurie Thraves is the Head of the Cabinet Office’s National Situation Centre. He has worked in domestic and national security analysis, policy and operational roles in government. He has also worked for public service think tanks, national charities and a technology start-up. He was educated at St. Hugh’s College, Oxford, SOAS, the University of Kuwait and British Institute in East Africa.
Head of the British Cabinet Office’s National Situation Centre
Panellist:
Ed Bryan is a senior analyst at RAND Europe, where he is the deputy lead of the Defence, Security and Justice research team’s Russia and Eurasia portfolio. He has a PhD in geopolitics and political geography from the University of Cambridge and previously held a visiting research fellowship at the Freie Universität Berlin’s John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies.
Senior Analyst, RAND Europe
Panellist:
Lindsay Hooper is CEO of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership at the University of Cambridge. She has over twenty years’ experience at the forefront of business and sustainability, working with senior leaders from multinational companies, financial institutions, and other influential organisations to accelerate the transition to a sustainable global economy. She has played a key role in CISL’s growth and evolution into an internationally respected institute, leading major initiatives that strengthen its impact. In 2025, she was named Leader of the Year at the BusinessGreen UK Green Business Awards for her contributions to advancing sustainability and shaping organisational responses to global environmental challenges.
CEO of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership
Panellist:
Charles Clarke is a UK Labour Party politician who served as Chief of Staff to Neil Kinnock before becoming an MP and cabinet minister. He was appointed Secretary of State for Education in 2002 and later served as Secretary of State for the Home Department from 2004 to 2006. Since leaving Parliament at the 2010 General Election, he has held visiting professorships at the University of East Anglia and the University of Lancaster.
Former UK Home Secretary
Panellist:
Emily Shuckburgh is a mathematician, climate scientist and the inaugural Director of Cambridge Zero, the University of Cambridge’s major climate change initiative. She is also Professor of Environmental Data Science at the Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge. In November 2025 she was appointed Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
Director, Cambridge Zero
Panellist:
Alex Krook leads policy and engagement for the AI & Geopolitics Project (AIxGEO) at the University of Cambridge’s Bennett School of Public Policy. She is an Associate at technology consultancy, Formation Advisory. Her cross-sector experience includes roles within the Public Policy Programme of the UK’s national research institute for data science, artificial intelligence, international NGOs, and third sector organisations. She is a Visiting Researcher with the community data trust initiative, Prospect Brixham.
Policy & Engagement lead for the AI & Geopolitics Project (AIxGEO) at the Bennett School of Public Policy
Programme
Residential delegates can arrive from 14:30 on Sunday, March 8.
Day 1: March 9
In our first day, we will hear from distinguished speakers reviewing how we can learn from the past, and examining the geopolitical challenges of today.
- Morning Delegates arrive in Cambridge
12:30 Opening Luncheon - 13:30 Opening Address: Rupert Soames
- 14:00 Panel 1: How do we learn from History?
- 15:30 Break
- 16:00 Panel 2A: Geopolitical Risk and Challenges Today (Defence & Security)
- 17:00 Panel 2B: Geopolitical Risk and Challenges Today (Politics, Diplomacy & Climate)
- 18:30 Drinks Reception
- 19:30 Dinner at the Møller Institute
Day 2: March 10
In our second day, we will hear from notable experts reviewing how we can address the current challenges, plan for the future, and analyse tomorrow’s risks.
- 09:30 Visits to the Churchill Archives Centre
- 11:15 Case study: Russia: History, Strategy & Statecraft
- 12:00 Presentation: the Centre for Geopolitics
- 12:30 Luncheon
- 13:30 Panel 3: Anticipating Future Risks and Challenges
- 14:45 Break
- 15:15 Panel 4: Analysing, Managing and Quantifying Risk
- 16:30 Break
- 17:00 Keynote Speaker: HE Anders Fogh Rasmussen
- 18:30 Gala Drinks Reception
- 19:30 Dinner in Churchill College, hosted by the Master
Day 3: March 11
Our final day allows for reflection on the themes of the past two days before a closing keynote address.
- 09:00 Futures & Foresight Forum (led by RAND Europe)
- 10:30 Break
- 11:00 Keynote Speaker: The Rt Hon the Lord Roberts of Belgravia
- 12:30 Luncheon and departures
Tour the Archive Centre
Private tours of the Churchill Archives Centre include the opportunity to view celebrated documents and artefacts, from Churchill’s cigar to Margaret Thatcher’s handbag, as well as extensive historical papers – including the celebrated “Iron Curtain” speech.
Visit Cambridge
If you want to spend time in our historic city, you can drink in the architecture, take in an art gallery or museum, or go punting.
