Gerald Mako

• Research Affiliate, University of Cambridge

Gerald Mako is a Research Affiliate at Cambridge University's Cambridge Central Asia Forum. He has advised European and Asian governments on sustainability, cybersecurity, AI governance, and resilient statecraft, and has collaborated with global institutions including the UNDP, the Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization, and the Commonwealth Secretariat.

His research bridges geopolitics, energy transitions, and policy innovation, with particular focus on the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Middle East. In an era of intensifying digital threats and technological disruption, he examines the critical intersection of AI and cybersecurity in building secure and equitable futures.

A dedicated stream of Gerald's research analyses the effectiveness, unintended consequences, and long-term geopolitical impact of international sanctions, particularly in Eurasia and the Middle East. He studies how sanctions reshape energy markets, alter elite incentives and behaviour, and affect civilian welfare, while identifying pathways to make them more targeted, adaptable, and reversible.

Gerald pays special attention to how China and Russia weaponise information ecosystems -through large-scale social-media manipulation, AI-generated synthetic content, deepfake campaigns, and covert influence operations- to reshape global public perception, destabilise democratic discourse, and advance strategic narratives that erode trust in Western institutions.

• –present Research Affiliate, University of Cambridge

• 2018 University of Cambridge, PhD, Development Studies

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