Roland Benedikter

About Roland Benedikter

Roland Benedikter was born at the intersection of the German and Italian cultures. For more than 30 years he has been interested in the “big picture” that only emerges at the crossroads of views, disciplines, developments and trends which create the realities of complex life-worlds. When Roland endavored to accomplish three different doctorates in politics, sociology and education, with an additional master in comparative literature, his goal was set: to comprehend “the whole” of a topic, process or challenge in order to better understand its parts, and vice versa. Catching the interrelation of things opens the eyes for their substance – thus in Roland’s eyes inter- and trans-disciplinary observation becomes a must in our time.

Following this insight, Roland accompanies contemporary world events & developments analysing them with interdisciplinary wisdom and wit, putting them in the framework of the greater picture and breaking them down to the views and requests of the audience. As a political scientist & sociologist, Roland has co-coined crucial notions of contemporary analysis such as the term “re-globalization” (see Ephrat Livni in The New York Times). He reflects about the topics that concern the future of humanity on the basis of 30 years of experience at the interface of applied politics & science in cooperation with the most important global bodies. In the maelstroem of daily information he provides a clear account of what is going on, adding often undervalued and sometimes surprising backgrounds, factors, influences and trajectories.

Our task is to assist to better understand the whole to understand the parts to understand the whole.

Roland serves as UNESCO Chair in Interdisciplinary Anticipation and Global-Local Transformation and as Co-Head of an Italy-based Center for Advanced Studies. He is full member of the Association of Italian UNESCO Chairs “Rete delle Cattedre UNESCO Italiane” (ReCUI) and of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. 2019-23 he was a full member of the “Future Circle” of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research BMBF Berlin advising the German Federal Government and 2024-25 advisory member for the Dubai Global 50 Future Opportunities Report. Since 2013 he is Trustee of the Toynbee Price Foundation for Global History and the History of Globalization Boston, and since 2025 of the Forum Sustainable Economy Munich. He frequently appears in radio and television as a commentator on international events, news & developments, for example for the Italian National Broadcast RAI – Radiotelevisione Italiana.

After having delivered more than 300 public appearances, Roland is an exciting public speaker who knows well about the importance of narratives and story-telling in serious analysis, including infotainment and what he calls “futures staging”. Over the years he has developed a particular ability to address major events in accessible, encouraging and involving ways. Roland’s speeches combine entertainment with methodological depth and information obtained in direct exchange with a broad global network of leading actors and institutions.