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:
Nicholas Soames was Minister of State for the Armed Forces from 1994 to 1997 in the government of John Major. His main political interests are defence, international relations, rural affairs and industry. He is a grandson of former Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Former Minister of State for the Armed Forces, UK
Panellist:
Beatrice Heuser is a 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.
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 a historian of diplomatic history with a focus on Scandinavia. He is Chief Historian at the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and a visiting professor at Newcastle University. 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
Christopher Parry was responsible for determining the future strategic context for operations and leading the conceptual development of all three Armed Forces, out to 2030. He now 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 served in the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 1995-2019, including postings in Poland, Iraq (2003) and Pakistan (2006-9). She worked primarily on national security issues and specialised in counter-terrorism, holding a number of senior domestic appointments including Head of the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre from 2015-2017. She is Master of Selwyn College, Cambridge.
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 British Cabinet Office’s National Situation Centre. The National Situation Centre was established in 2021 to provide data, open source intelligence and analysis to the UK Government’s crisis management COBR (Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms) committee. It has supported the Government’s responses to national security and civil contingency crises including Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, the Middle East and North Africa and extreme weather and flooding.
Head of the British Cabinet Office’s National Situation Centre
Programme
Our panels form the core of our event, with many distinguished speakers sharing their wisdom:
Our first panel includes:
- Professor Beatrice Heuser, historian & political scientist
- Professor Chandrika Kaul, Modern British, Imperial, & media historian
- Professor David Reynolds, Historian & Author
- Professor Patrick Salmon, Chief Historian at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.
- Michael Chertoff, former United States Secretary of Homeland Security.
- General Lord Dannatt, former professional head of the British
Army - Admiral Michael McConnell, former Director of US National Intelligence.
- Christopher Parry, strategic forecaster.
- Suzanne Raine, former Head of the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre.
- Dame Diane Coyle, economist and Professor of Public Policy
- Christopher Ling, CEO of Ericsson Federal Technologies Group
- Professor Brendan Simms, Professor of the History of International Relations and Director of the Centre for Geopolitics.
- Ofir Zigelman, Director of Product Management, Expansion Strategy at
Amazon Web Services
- Professor Sharon Peacock, Professor of Public Health and Microbiology
- Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, statistician and former Winton Professor of the
Public Understanding of Risk. - Laurie Thraves, Head of the British Cabinet Office’s National Situation Centre
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: The Rt. Hon the Lord Soames of Fletching
- 14:00 Panel 1: How do we learn from History?
- 15:30 Break
- 16:00 Panel 2: Geopolitical Risk and Challenges Today
- 18:00 Drinks Reception
- 19:00 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.
- Morning Discussion groups, visits to the Churchill Archives Centre, time to visit Cambridge
- 12:30 Luncheon
- 13:30 Panel 3: Anticipating Future Risks and Challenges
- 15:00 Break
- 15:30 Panel 4: Analysing, Managing and Quantifying Risk
- 16:30 Break
- 17:00 Keynote Speaker: HE Anders Fogh Rasmussen
- 19:00 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.
- 09.30 Discussion Session
- 10:30 Tea and coffee
- 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.
