After Sendai: Governing Global Catastrophic Risks in the Emerging Global Interregnum

With Elena Kavanagh & Reuben Makomere

This project develops an interdisciplinary research agenda for governing Global catastrophic risks (GCRs) under conditions of systemic international transition. It convenes a small group of researchers at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER), University of Cambridge, to advance theoretical and empirical approaches to cooperation, legitimacy, and coordination during what can be understood as a global interregnum — a period marked by institutional inertia, contested authority, and heightened uncertainty. Building on an international workshop held in Cambridge in May 2026 and an associated forthcoming peer-reviewed special issue on catastrophic risk and global political change, the project will establish an epistemic network of scholars and practitioners — the After Sendai Risk Network (ASRN) — over a twelve-month period.