Dr Maha Hosain Aziz: Researching Future Risks, Shocks and Strategy

Maha spends her days exploring the big stuff—growing global risk, future trends, and what they mean for the world. She teaches at NYU in the MA International Relations Program and leads a yearly project with Wikistrat, the first-ever crowdsourced consultancy, where they predict and unpack frontier risks.

Since 2020, she’s also been working with the World Economic Forum as part of their Global Future Council on Risk, focusing on things like climate change and AI and how we can actually do something about them by leveraging crowds. As a risk expert, she brings unique insights into how emerging challenges could shape our future.

Bestselling Author Of A Trilogy Of Books On The Future Of Our World Order

Maha’s not just an author — she’s the mind behind Future World Order (2020), a global bestseller that’s bagged seven awards and had big names like Dr Ian Bremmer and Kishore Mahbubani calling it a “must-read”. Pretty impressive, right?

What makes her story even more powerful is what she did with her success. She gave 15% of her book earnings to the Abid Aziz Fund, which supports Syrian refugee youth living in Jordan’s Za’atari camp. That donation, made through the charity Peace and Sport, was her way of honouring her late brother.

Since then, she’s kept the momentum going with two follow-ups: Global Spring: Predictions for a Post-Pandemic World and 10 Shock Events By 2030 — both landing in 2024. Her work dives into today’s global legitimacy crisis and explores the roots of a growing global identity crisis. Her bold takes and sharp insights have caught the attention of some seriously major outlets, too. We’re talking CNN, Forbes, Newsweek, Bloomberg, Vanity Fair, Huffington Post, Observer, Tatler, and Businessweek. Future World Order is also considered by some to be the world’s first political comic book, blending geopolitical commentary with graphic storytelling.

Powerful Speaker On The Future Trends Shaping Our Post-Pandemic World In The 2020s

Maha’s no stranger to the global stage—she’s delivered powerful keynotes for government bodies, nonprofits and major companies across the world. You might’ve caught her speaking at COP27 in Sharm el Sheikh, addressing the United Nations in New York, or sharing insights at the European Parliament in Brussels. She’s also made appearances at the Bosphorus Forum in Istanbul, Energy Asia with Petronas in KL, and Cyfy Africa in Tangier.

Lately, whether she’s presenting online or in person, Maha’s been diving into recent virtual discussions and what lies ahead in our post-pandemic reality. She’s unpacking everything from political influencers, economic turbulence, climate disruptions, tech shifts and global conflict—helping audiences make sense of the shocks that are shaking up this decade and highlighting future trends based on current global dynamics.

An Award-Winning Creator Of Comic Books To Teach All Ages About Future Global Challenges

Maha always wanted to be a cartoonist growing up—and she made it happen in a big way. Back in 2016, she launched The Global Kid, a political comic book aimed at helping kids understand the world. No surprise it picked up seven awards. Her own childhood, bouncing between 7 countries before she even turned 15, was the spark behind it all.

Fast forward to 2021, and she took things up a notch. Teaming up with edtech crew Musemio in London and AR Market in Rome, she dropped a follow-up—this time in VR/AR format—for tweens. That one racked up ten awards.

Now she’s working on something totally different: her first political comic for adults. It’s called Evolution (coming 2024) and explores themes of global extremism partly created by structural inequality and cultural tension. Oh—and she’s building it using generative AI. The project is also part of a broader AI policy brief series and reflects ideas around a new social contract future.

Previously…

Maha’s worn a lot of hats over the years—and not the kind you stash in your wardrobe. She’s been a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics’ Institute of Global Affairs, held a senior fellow position at the World Policy Institute, and co-led the New Silk Road Generation, which kicked off Afghanistan’s first e-mentoring programme for university students. Pretty cool, right?

She’s also taught politics and international studies over at SOAS, University of London, where she was a senior teaching fellow in the International Studies Department, worked as a columnist for Businessweek, and started her career crunching numbers as an investment banker at Credit Suisse.

Maha’s background is just as global as her resume. She was born in Jordan, has Pakistani Muslim roots, and grew up across the Middle East (think Jordan and Saudi Arabia), Southeast Asia (yep, Singapore and Malaysia), Europe (hello UK and Greece), and the US. So when she talks about being a global citizen, she means it.

Academically, she’s just as stacked—a social scientist trained with degrees from Brown (BA), Columbia (MA), and the LSE (MSc and PhD). She even picked up a research certification from NYU’s Polytechnic School of Engineering on how to harness the power of crowds in the public sector.

She’s currently a senior advisor and co-chair at the Asia Society and works with a global boutique firm focused on AI policy and strategy.