Alasdair Lane

The Atlantic • 22nd April 2025

How AI Agents Could Reshape Our World

Imagine a major concert event that you are eager to attend. Tickets go on sale soon, and you know it’s going to be a frenzy.

Fortune • 1st March 2010

Leading Japan's Economic Security Imperative

At the end of 2022, Japan made a seismic announcement: The country would be adopting a more assertive national security posture.

Fortune • 21st January 2024

Why continuous employee development matters in the age of AI

When the first PCs began landing on office desks in the late 1970s, they sparked a workplace revolution.

Fortune • 21st January 2024

How streamlined tech is helping health care workers thrive

Facing a relentless rise in patient demand, an aging population, and an overburdened health care system, health workers are grappling with an unprecedented burnout epidemic.

The Economist • 2nd November 2023

Rising from the Storm: Malawi's Battle for Climate-Resilient Water and Sanitation

The devastation wrought on Malawi by Cyclone Freddy is hard to overstate. Crashing into the south-eastern African nation in early March, the storm – one of the most severe on record – swept away homes, schools, roads, bridges, businesses, farms and healthcare facilities.

Euronews • 16th August 2023

We can't allow our right to water to go down the drain

For the Berriennois — residents of the tiny village of Berrien nestled in France's mountainous northwest — summer 2022 won’t easily be forgotten.

The New York Times • 28th December 2022

Easing Mortgage Stress With A.I. and Empathy

The stress of financing a house purchase is something the California-based realtor Eloy Villamil is all too familiar with. During his 20-year career, he’s helped thousands of prospective homeowners navigate the pressures of the mortgage process — and been through it more than a few times himself.

Fortune • 14th November 2022

Nuclear fusion has been a pipe dream for decades, but it might actually be on the cusp of commercial viability

In the packed field of prospective net-zero solutions, nuclear fusion stands out in its scope and ambition. By successfully replicating the reaction that powers the sun, humanity could—in the words of Stephen Hawking—unlock an “inexhaustible supply of energy, without pollution or global warming.”

CNBC • 25th October 2022

Dubai: a connected, pro-business city doing things differently

During an illustrious career as an airline chief executive and a professional marathon runner, Stefan Pichler called many places home. Europe, North America, Asia, Africa, Australasia — there are few corners of the globe the 65-year-old hasn’t lived in.

Fortune • 20th June 2022

U.S. states lead the way in taking Big Oil to court

In courtrooms around the United States, climate lawyers are tightening the screws on Big Oil. From California to Colorado, Hawaii, and Rhode Island, no fewer than 20 states are seeking damages against dozens of the world’s largest fossil fuel firms.

United Nations • 14th June 2022

How The Private Sector Can Help Women’s Empowerment and Peace

More than two decades on from the adoption of the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda — which affirmed the crucial role of women in conflict prevention and peacebuilding initiatives — women’s inclusion in recovery and relief efforts remains under-resourced and under-valued.

United Nations • 2nd June 2022

In the Aftermath of Crisis, Rural Bangladeshi Women Pursue Economic Security

When Cyclone Amphan swept through Bangladesh in 2020, it levelled thousands of homes and washed away fisheries and other vital livelihoods.

BBC Future • 17th May 2022

Can gravity batteries solve our energy storage problems?

There is a riddle at the heart of the renewable energy revolution. When the wind blows, the sun shines, and the waves roll, there is abundant green power to be generated. But when skies darken and conditions are calm, what do we do?

KAICIID • 28th April 2022

Serbia’s Pedro Arrupe Integration House — Providing Unaccompanied Refugee Children the Childhood they Deserve

Located midway between the Middle East and Western Europe, Serbia was hit hard by the “refugee crisis” of 2015. Fleeing war and chronic economic insecurity, of refugees arrived in the Balkan country, most destined for the Serbian capital, Belgrade. Among their ranks were thousands of unaccompanied children: alone, vulnerable, and in urgent need of specialist care.

United Nations • 7th March 2022

Women Spearhead Climate Change Response in the South Pacific

In 2020, Tropical Cyclone (TC) Yasa wreaked havoc across the South Pacific. As torrential rain, howling winds, and thirty five-foot waves lashed the island nations of Vanuatu, Fiji, and Tongo, thousands of homes and livelihoods were lost. By the time the storm had passed, at least four people were dead, with a financial toll reaching into the hundreds-of-millions of dollars.

KAICIID • 20th January 2022

Tackling Historic Violence through Dialogue in Nigeria

For those championing peace in Nigeria, 2021 ended on a depressing note. Saturday, December 18, less than two weeks before the new year, deadly violence erupted between farmers and herdsmen in the country’s central Nasarawa state. At least 45 lives were lost.

The New York Times • 11th January 2022

What Will the Highways of the Future Look Like?

The Romans built 50,000 miles of them. Today, there's at least 500 times that number worldwide. They convey goods and people over vast distances at speed, allowing societies to bloom and economies to thrive. Highways were a cornerstone of the ancient world — and in the 21st century, they’re no less important.

New Scientist • 29th December 2021

Peatlands in peril: The race to save the bogs that slow climate change

In the middle of the 20th century, Finland started modernizing. Like most of Europe, the Nordic nation had been left economically bereft by World War II, and needed to ramp up productivity fast. The answer, the Finnish government decided, was forestry, the country’s industrial backbone for generations.

Medium | UK Research and Innovation • 17th December 2021

How Covid-19 is helping us fight climate change

The arrival of COVID-19 was a crisis that few foresaw. Almost overnight, organisations and individuals had to adapt to the realities of life under a global pandemic. Across the UK, people started doing things differently, seeking solutions to the most pressing problems — from business who pivoted to make hand sanitiser and face masks, to scientists who redirected their research to fight the disease.

The New York Times • 12th November 2021

How Crypto is Re‑Writing the Rules of Digital Ownership

Shortly after the financial crisis of 2008, a group of tech-minded trailblazers sought a solution to the shortcomings of conventional finance.