We (Hannes Meissner, Johannes Leitner, Cecilia E. Sottilotta, Julian M. Campisi) are the editors of the Routledge Handbook of Political Risk (2025).

The Political Risk Studies Association was born out of a shared academic passion for political risk analysis (PRA). On the one hand, Cecilia Sottilotta and Julian Campisi met in 2016 during a research visit by Julian to LUISS Guido Carli in Rome. At the time, Cecilia was a postdoctoral researcher working on a Horizon 2020 project on the Eurozone crisis, following a PhD on the concept and measurement of political risk. Julian was a doctoral candidate at York University in Toronto, researching political risk in consolidated democracies. Their shared interests sparked a collaboration that grew into several joint projects over the years.

On the other hand, the STRATOS project (2016–2021), led by Johannes Leitner and Hannes Meissner at the University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna, focused on the strategic management of political risks in the Eastern Partnership region and Russia. Funded by the City of Vienna, this project provided fertile ground for developing a broader reflection on political risk in a rapidly changing world.

Cecilia met Johannes and Hannes in Vienna in 2017, and in 2018 the four of us came together as a full team for the first time at a workshop in Vienna. What began as an idea for an edited volume evolved through years of collaboration—conference panels, exchanges, and long conversations about how to approach political risk methodologically and conceptually.

Despite pandemic-related delays, we regrouped in 2022 at the CES conference in Lisbon with renewed energy and a deeper understanding of the shifting global landscape.

In the process of working on the Handbook of Political Risk, we built an incredible network of researchers and practitioners. With the Political Risk Studies Association, we aim to build on that momentum—bringing together scholars and professionals from all career stages who are passionate about political risk analysis.

Our mission is to foster a vibrant, inclusive space for dialogue between theory and practice, and to contribute to the consolidation of political risk studies as a rigorous academic discipline. We firmly believe that theory and practice are not enemies but indispensable to one another—after all, there is nothing more practical than a good theory. This is especially true in political risk, where intellectual curiosity must meet the demands of a fast-paced, high-stakes environment.

At present, our founding team includes two academics with hands-on experience in PRA (Cecilia & Julian) and two full-time consultants with strong academic backgrounds and experience as researchers (Johannes & Hannes).