Something New is On the Horizon

Carter Cheng is Vice President (Global Operations) at Young Professionals in Foreign Policy (YPFP), where she leads the operations and strategic development of the organization’s global branches across Washington, Brussels, New York, London, Tokyo, Toronto, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and its global virtual hub. Previously Managing Director of YPFP London, she works to strengthen pathways for cross-border and intergenerational leadership in foreign policy and global governance.

A political scientist and international law researcher at the University of Cambridge, Carter works at the intersection of geopolitics, emerging technologies, planetary resilience, and strategic foresight. Her research focuses on the governance of dual-use technologies, particularly space-based Earth observation, GeoAI, and environmental intelligence infrastructures, and how these systems are reshaping global security, environmental governance, and conflict dynamics in an era of climate and technological disruption.

Alongside her research, Carter serves as Engagement Coordinator for the Cambridge Democratising Education for Global Sustainability and Justice programme, expanding access to Cambridge-funded education on sustainable development law and policy for 13,000+ current and future leaders across 170+ countries.

Carter is a World Economic Forum Future50 Leader, Europe and Eurasia Co-Lead of the WEF’s inaugural Intergenerational Foresight Handbook, and a Core Collaborator of the WEF Future26 initiative, contributing to global conversations on anticipatory governance and long-term policymaking. As European Focal Point of the UNCCD Youth Caucus, she advises the UNCCD Secretariat and various UN agencies on stakeholder engagement and sustainable land governance strategies. Her broader experience spans the UK Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Youth of Spain, the United Nations ESCAP, the FAO, Harvard Business Review, Peking University, and the University of Hong Kong.