Geopolitical risk has shifted from episodic disruption to a structural driver of markets, reshaping the investment landscape.  In this season’s inaugural episode, Alex Kazan, Managing Director, Strategic Partnership at Eurasia Group outlines the scale of this transition, highlighting how major economies now act as sources of geopolitical risk and volatility, with implications for policy continuity, trust and risk premia.  Against this backdrop, investors must navigate a more complex environment defined by US policy uncertainty, intensifying strategic competition and evolving geopolitical alignments.

The discussion explores how these dynamics are redefining baseline assumptions across capital allocation, supply chains and energy security, with particular focus on China’s evolving positioning and the persistent sources of escalation risk in the Middle East.

In the first episode of our Scholar & Investor series, we bring together academic insight and investment expertise to examine one of the most important intersections shaping markets today. 

Professor Constantine Yannelis, Professor Cambridge University and Thomas Moore, Senior Investment Director at Aberdeen Asset Management explore how artificial intelligence, energy innovation and structural shifts in the UK economy are influencing global markets. Drawing on both research-led perspectives and real-world investment experience, they discuss the opportunities—and constraints—facing investors. 

Has geopolitical denialism run its course?

Welcome back to the FTSE Russell Convenes ‘geopolitical’ series. Tina Fordham, Founder of Fordham Global Foresight, returns to explore how the current constellation of risks interact with markets.

Tina reflects on 2025 and reveals the key signposts shaping the 2026 risk map—from U.S mid-terms to Hungary's upcoming elections. She also explains how geopolitical risk will impact businesses and shares the word she believes best captures the year ahead.

“Real estate touches all the big evolutions we see in society”. Listen as David Sol, Global Head of Policy, FTSE Russell, and Dominique Moerenhout, CEO of the European Real Estate Association (EPRA) discuss how mega trends such as specialisation, scale, consolidation, sustainability and innovation affect the real estate market. 

In this episode, Indrani De, FTSE Russell and Ed Tom, Cboe, present new research they have co-authored that explores how options on public equity can be used to manage private equity risk. Their findings reveal surprising similarities between private and public markets once smoothing techniques are applied—and how options strategies can be a good hedge of private equity risk exposures, using both tactical and systematic hedges.

Listen as Joe Thomson, Founder and CEO of Pacer ETFs, discusses Pacer’s origins in fund distribution.  Our discussion covers the launch of Pacer’s ETF business in 2015 and their focus on developing deep relationships with financial advisors.

Guest: Joe Thompson, Founder and CEO, Pacer Financial 

Host: Steve Kriechman, Director, Index Investments Group, FTSE Russell 

Marina Mets (FTSE Russell) and BlackRock's Joyce Choi talk about the recent market volatility and how the recent market dynamics in the US along with the falling US dollar make international fixed income more attractive to invest in. Joyce discusses the best way to dip your toes into international bonds and which iShares ETF invests that way.  

Guest: Joyce Choi, Head of Institutional Product Strategy, Fixed Income, ETFs, BlackRock

Host: Marina Mets, Head of Americas, Fixed Income & Convertibles, FTSE Russell

In this episode, Stephanie Maier, FTSE Russell and Laura Starks, University of Texas, discuss investor democracy and the evolving landscape of proxy voting where shareholder voting becomes more open and inclusive, enabling broader participation and representation. Laura explains the impact of decentralised voting and investor choice programs, revealing key findings from her latest research on how these shifts influence decisions on ESG and climate proposals, and corporate governance. 

Guest: Laura Starks, George Kozmetsky Centennial Distinguished University Chair and Professor of Finance at the McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin 

Host: Stephanie Maier, Head of Sustainability, FTSE Russell 

Meet StepStone Group, a private markets solutions provider with $723 billion in total capital responsibility (as of June 30, 2025). In June 2025, FTSE Russell announced a partnership with StepStone to leverage their extensive private markets database in the creation of new indices—designed to help investors better understand these strategies and potentially broaden access to the asset class. We sat down with Tom Keck, StepStone’s Co-founder and Partner, to explore the hidden value these next-generation private markets benchmarks are poised to unlock.  

Dana Moody (FTSE Russell) and Vanguard's Carole Okigbo discuss recent Vanguard milestones and review some current ETF industry trends, including the resilience of the ETF structure in the face of more recent market volatility. Lastly, they look at portfolio construction considerations and some common ETF misconceptions.