If you want to understand this incredible geopolitical moment then Helen Thompson, Professor of Political Economy, is your person. Steeped in the history of how global energy interests and finance policy have interacted to shape the 21st century – not least in Ukraine – Helen offers an unrivalled analysis of the times we live in.

Helen has been at Cambridge since 1994. Her current research concentrates on the political economy of energy and the long history of the democratic, economic, and geopolitical disruptions of the twenty-first century. She was a regular panellist on the influential Talking Politics podcast and is a columnist for the New Statesman.

In her latest book Disorder, Helen explains why we in the West, live in the political times we do. Disorder has won praise from the likes of Diane Coyle and Adam Tooze who says “Defty weaving together the history of energy, economics, and politics, Disorder restores depth to contemporary history”.