Cambridge Risk Symposium 2026

Fernanda is a Research Associate in systemic risks at the Centre for Risk Studies. She is a Mexican engineer focused on the application of technology for development and social innovation. Previously, Fernanda worked on gene and cellular therapies for several years and then transitioned to consulting in technology innovation, disaster risk management (DRM) and emergency preparedness and response (EP&R). Fernanda is also a passionate traditional fencer and martial artist, looking forward to this new opportunity to work on systemic risks at the Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies.

Dr Timothy Less runs the study group in geopolitical risk analysis at the Centre for Geopolitics. He also works as a consultant for the private sector with a specialisation in the politics of central and eastern Europe about which he writes and comments for the media.

Previously, he worked as an analyst, diplomat, and policymaker at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office where he led the Countries at Risk of Instability project and ran the British Embassy Office in Banja Luka and the EU Institutions department. He also taught Eastern European Politics at the University of Kent.

Tim holds an MA in Eastern European Studies from the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, an MSt in International Relations, and a PhD in modern history from the University of Cambridge. His recent publications include the ‘City Risk Index 2022’ (co-author, Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies, January 2023); ‘The New Warsaw Pact’ (Engelsberg Ideas, May 2023); and ‘What If? Ten Geopolitical Risks to Keep You Awake at Night’ (GIRO conference paper, November 2023).

Professor Danny Ralph is a Founder and Director of the Centre for Risk Studies, Professor of Operations Research at Cambridge Judge Business School, and a Fellow of Churchill College.

Danny received his PhD in 1990 from the University of Wisconsin Madison. He was a faculty member of the Mathematics & Statistics Department at the University of Melbourne before coming to Cambridge University for a joint appointment in the Engineering Department and Cambridge Judge Business School.

Danny’s research interests include: risk in business decision making; risk aversion in electricity markets; methods and models for optimisation problems and equilibrium systems. Specific projects undertaken in collaboration with the banking and insurance industry (Catlin, HSBC, ICBC, Lloyd’s, Munich Re, Risk Management Solutions, Swiss Re) cover emerging risk scenarios, financial stress testing and a global ranking of cities by risk exposure. Engagements with other sectors include electricity consultancies (Artelys, LCP), oil and gas (Shell Exploration, Statoil) and retail (BT Retail, Gap) on decision making under high uncertainty. Public service contributions to the UK Cabinet Office, UK Industry and Parliamentary Trust, UK Office of the Government Chief Scientific Advisor, and United Nations World Humanitarian Summit.

Professor Ralph is a member of the Australian Mathematical Society, INFORMS, the Mathematical Optimization Society and SIAM. He was Editor-in-Chief of Mathematical Programming (Series B) from 2007-2013 and has served on the editorial boards of Mathematics of Operations Research and the SIAM Journal on Optimization, as well as the SIAM-MPS book series on optimisation.

Dr Trevor Maynard is the Director of Systemic Risk at the Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies located at the Judge Business School.

He qualified as an actuary and holds a PhD in Statistics from the LSE and a Masters in Pure Mathematics from the University of Warwick.

His work has involved risk modelling in various guises from Pensions and Life Assurance to general insurance, working for firms such as Lloyd’s of London and Mercer. Whilst at Lloyd’s his team produced risk reports on subjects including Pandemics, Climate Change, Deep tail Marine disasters, Nano Technology, Geopolitics, AI, Robotics and IoT working with many think tanks, universities and specialist risk modelling firms.

Additionally he advises insurtech firms on risk and data science.

Kevin is a researcher at the Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies. His research looks at climate disaster risk and recovery, systemic economic and climate risk, and global trends, networks, and linkages in the design and analysis of risk taxonomies and scenarios. He has worked in research related to climate financial risk, including input/output analysis of climate-economy modelling, climate scenario modelling and stress testing, carbon accounting, energy systems, and transition and fiscal policy. He has been a researcher at Oxford University’s School of Geography, Department of Economics, and the Said Business School, where he has worked on topics related to international trade, competition, infrastructure, international development, inequality, and long-run growth. He has been a lecturer at Oxford University and the University of Buckingham. He holds a PhD and MSc from Oxford University, and a BA from Northwestern University.

Dr Michael Hochberg helps run the Mackinder Forum, the world’s oldest operating organisation for the promotion of geopolitical thought, where he devotes his attention to questions of geopolitics, foreign relations, grand strategy, economic statecraft, business and technology, with a particular interest in the areas where these different fields intersect.

Previously, Michael was a physicist, an engineer, a professor, a founder, an executive at a large multinational, a freelance advisor to CEOs, and a corporate board member, and has created over a billion dollars’ worth of startup companies. In 2024, he was also a visiting scholar at the Centre for Geopolitics at the University of Cambridge.

Michael’s articles have appeared in Science, Nature, and other top scientific journals, and have been cited over 20,000 times in the scientific literature. He has also written extensively on geopolitics for publications such as National Review Online, The Hill, and the Naval War College Review.

Michael holds a BSc, MSc and PhD from Caltech in Physics and Applied Physics and was the recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering.