Dr Nik Gowing

Dr Nik Gowing founded the Thinking the Unthinkable project in 2014. He is co-author of Thinking the Unthinkable (2018) and Director of Think Unthinkable Ltd.

He was a main news presenter for the BBC’s international 24-hour news channel BBC World News 1996-2014. He presented The Hub with Nik Gowing, BBC World Debates, Dateline London, plus location coverage of major global stories.

Nik spent 18 years at ITN in senior roles including bureau chief in Rome and Warsaw, plus Diplomatic Editor, Channel 4 New. He collected a prestigious BAFTA award in 1982 for his coverage of martial law in Poland.

He has been a two-term member of the councils of major think tanks Chatham House and the Royal United Services Institute. He is a Visiting Professor at King's College London and held a similar position at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Nik has been a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Geo-Economics. He was an adviser on leadership challenges to the President of the UN General Assembly.

His peer-reviewed study at Oxford University, ‘Skyful of Lies and Black Swans’ (2009), predicted what is now labelled ‘Fake News’. It identified the new vulnerability and brittleness of institutional power in the new all-pervasive public information space.

Nik was awarded honorary doctorates by Exeter University and Bristol University. They recognise his ongoing cutting edge analysis and distinguished career in international journalism. Since 2021, he has been a Distinguished Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute.