Peter Frankopan

Peter Frankopan: A World-Leading Historian and Insightful Global Commentator

Peter Frankopan is Professor of Global History at Oxford University, where he also directs the Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research and serves as a Senior Research Fellow at Worcester College. In addition, he holds the position of Professor of Silk Roads Studies and Bye-Fellow at King’s College, Cambridge. His research explores the history and politics of the Mediterranean, Russia, the Middle East, Persia/Iran, Central Asia, China, and beyond – including the interconnected histories of climate, natural resources, and global connectivity.

Peter Frankopan is the author of the international bestseller The Silk Roads: A New History of the World, which was named The Daily Telegraph’s History Book of the Year in 2015. Topping the Sunday Times Non-Fiction charts, it has sold over 2 million copies worldwide and reshaped our understanding of global history. Its sequel, The New Silk Roads, was acclaimed by the Evening Standard as a “masterly mapping out of a new world order” and by the Sunday Times as “a brilliant guide to terra incognita,” earning the Carical Foundation’s Human Sciences Prize in 2019. His latest book, The Earth Transformed: An Untold History, delves into environmental history and climate change, praised by The Times as “an endlessly fascinating book” and the Financial Times for “transforming our understanding of history.”

Peter Frankopan’s insights are in demand among business leaders and policymakers navigating a world of reconfiguring globalisation and geopolitical risk. In his engaging keynotes, he presents five ‘Timely Takeaways’ that show how history’s lessons can inform today’s strategies:

• New World Order: Peter explores how Trump’s worldview and policies aimed to manage—and potentially reverse—the rise of China, sparking urgent questions about future power dynamics.
• What Next for Europe?: He examines Europe’s evolving role amid a resurgent Russia and an unpredictable USA, and how governments like Starmer’s are recalibrating in response.
• BRICS: With BRICS nations home to 50% of the world’s population and accounting for over 40% of global GDP, Peter highlights the opportunities and challenges of this ‘global majority’ and the emergence of new Silk Roads.
• From AI to Climate – The Age of Revolutions: Drawing parallels with history’s great transformations, Peter asks whether today’s upheavals signal a new Cold War—or multiple Cold Wars.
• The New Great Game: He argues that after decades of market optimism, the realities of supply chains, resources, and resilience demand a new approach to global competition and stability.

Peter frequently contributes to major outlets such as The Sunday Times, The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Guardian, and the Evening Standard. He has been described as “a literary star” (The Times), “the history rock star du jour” (The New Statesman), and “the first great historian of the 21st century” (DCM Magazine, Brazil).

Beyond his scholarship, Peter’s impact extends into music, education, and popular culture. The Silk Roads has inspired everything from British Airways’ in-flight entertainment to the Pakistani Government’s Read to Lead literacy program. In 2019, he was awarded the prestigious Calliope Prize by the German Emigration Center, one of the richest Humanities prizes in Germany. In 2018, The Silk Roads was named one of the 25 most influential books translated into Chinese in the last 40 years, joining the ranks of classics like One Hundred Years of Solitude and Pride and Prejudice.

Translated into forty languages, Peter’s books continue to captivate global audiences, inviting us to view the world through the long lens of history and to make informed decisions for the future.