Systemic Futures Lab

This page collects media coverage, interviews, videos, podcasts, public talks, and recorded presentations linked to the Systemic Futures Lab.

News and interviews

• YouTube Video/CGTN News: Why are misinformation and disinformation ranking high among the WEF’s top global risks for 2025? In this CGTN Europe interview, Prof. Pescaroli discusses why misinformation and disinformation are increasingly recognised as major global risks. The discussion reflects concerns raised in the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2025, where misinformation and disinformation are identified as leading short-term risks because of their potential to undermine trust, increase polarisation, complicate decision-making, and weaken the capacity of institutions and organisations to respond to crises.
• YouTube Video/BBC News: Building Resilience Insights on Flooding, HILP Events, and Stress Tests In this BBC news appearance, Prof. Gianluca Pescaroli from the Department of Risk and Disaster Reduction at UCL, discusses the recent floods in Europe and Myanmar, highlighting their connection to High Impact Low Probability (HILP) events. By integrating novel methodologies, AGILE is developing tiered risk and resilience stress tests (STs) in collaboration with DRM practitioners, aimed at enhancing disaster preparedness and building societal resilience against future crises.
• BCC News Article: The risk management experts now in high demand. This BBC News article features Prof. Pescaroli in the context of rising demand for risk management expertise following Covid-19, the war in Ukraine, supply chain disruption, and wider global uncertainty. The article highlights the increasing need for organisations to understand their critical processes, develop contingency arrangements, and prepare for crises before disruption occurs.

Projects and Dissemination

YouTube Video/AGILE Project. The AGILE Card Game: Reinventing Stress Tests for High-Impact Risks. In this conversation, Prof. Gianluca Pescaroli and Dr. Raed Arafat, Secretary of State and Head of the Department of Emergency Situations within Romania’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Ambassador of the AGILE Project, discuss the thinking behind the development of the AGILE Card Game. Together, they explore how serious gaming, randomisation, and facilitated discussion can help participants examine HILP events, cascading effects, and common vulnerabilities across interconnected systems. The discussion highlights how innovative approaches to stress testing can encourage critical thinking and help organisations prepare for complex emergencies that extend beyond traditional single-hazard scenarios.

YouTube Video/UCLRDR: Why lateral thinking and creativity are important for disaster resilience? This UCL RDR taster lecture explores why lateral thinking and creativity matter for disaster resilience. Gianluca Pescaroli and Nigel Furlong (This UCL IRDR taster lecture explores why lateral thinking and creativity matter for disaster resilience. Gianluca Pescaroli and Nigel Furlong discuss how organisations can prepare for complex and unusual disruptions by thinking beyond standard plans and conventional risk scenarios) discuss how organisations can prepare for complex and unusual disruptions by thinking beyond standard plans and conventional risk scenarios.