Special Reports provide in-depth FT coverage of countries around the world, as well as industries from tech to luxury and themes ranging from workplace health to entrepreneurship.

Cyber Security and Society

The Financial Times proposes to publish this FT Report on 26 January 2021.

We plan to include the following features (please note that this list is provisional):

Could an Increased Interest in Coding fill the Cyber Security Talent Gap? 

What can be done to Encourage more Women into the Industry?

Jobs in cyber security have historically been in large demand globally. A 2019 report found that 4m additional people were needed in the US only, besides the 2.8m people already employed in the field. Another think-tank report found that the skills gap is shrinking for the first time in years, thanks to people learning coding skills during the pandemic and a short term fall in global demand. Some start-ups have taken advantage of lockdowns to raise their profiles, inciting people interested in programming to reconvert or jump start careers in the industry. Is this the start of a shift for jobs in the field, or just a fad?

Cyber Security and Health 

When a Finnish psychotherapy centre was hacked, its clients were blackmailed to keep the data private. What impact does weak cyber security have on patients? Cyber attacks on the UK’s NHS highlighted the dangers of attacks on hospitals. This could happen at any time again, and could also happen in smaller clinics, private hospitals and dental practices. So what would a data breach or hack do to those patients? It could derail their plan to get better, whether that is a delayed operation, key data missing to compare the spread of cancer, or the mental health impact of their condition being publicised. What safeguards can society and people put in place to protect citizens?

Cyber Security and Human Rights 

Authoritarian regimes are using cyber police units to monitor marginalised groups, prompting widespread concerns among human rights groups. What technologies are these cyber police units utilising and are their techniques set to be used on the wider population?

Hacking as a Gateway to far Worse

Revenge porn and social media hacks can be precursors to domestic violence or to large-scale fraud. This can result in financial losses, relationship breakdowns, or much worse. What are the implications and what support do victims have access to? Are governments taking countermeasures? What are the social and financial costs?

Cybersecurity and deep fakes (AI)

An analysis of the deep fake landscape and the systems being designed to try and counter them. What impact are they having on society?

Day to Day Services Migrating Online

Voting, banking, shopping, filing taxes, buying and selling houses. Is it possible to expand online voting and have free, fair, and secure election results? In the US, practically everyone files their taxes online, in addition to conducting bank transactions (eg buying and selling houses). What technologies can guard against the cybersecurity threat? 

Information

■ Recently published FT Special Reports can be viewed at www.ft.com/specialreports 

A full list of published reports can be viewed at http://www.ft.com/reports/library Forthcoming FT Special Reports and their synopsis can be downloaded via the 

Future Reports link on the www.ft.com/specialreports page. 

For website assistance please call + (0) 20 7775 6297.

This editorial synopsis must not be amended in any way by anyone other than the Editor of Special Reports. 

All submissions or suggestions for editorial features should be sent to reports@ft.com 

This is to ensure all suggestions can be assessed and to enable the editorial team to cope with the huge volume of approaches that would otherwise stop them from doing their work. Due to the volume of approaches the editorial team are unable to confirm receipt or respond to all enquiries. 

Advertisement and Sponsorship Information

For details of the advertising and sponsorship opportunities please contact:

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Please note the advertising representatives cannot assist with editorial approaches or other editorial matters. Please be advised Financial Times advertisers and sponsors have no influence on editorial content.

Business & Society

The Financial Times proposes to publish this FT Report January 27, 2020.

We plan to include the following features (please note that this list is provisional):

Business v Social Obligations

We explore through case studies how business has tackled specific clashes between their business obligations and social obligations.

How Business Does Diversity in Practice 

We explore the role of the chief diversity officer and interview them to eke out best practice.

Innovation and Society

Socially useful inventions that came out of business or government has spawned inventions that have been great for business. 

Universal Basic Income

Given the interdependence of business and society for the longer-term viability of capitalism, has the time come for universal basic income?

Business & Art

At a time when public purses are under greater strain than ever, but play a vital role in supporting the arts in many countries, how can business continue to support the arts at a time when museums have come under pressure to give up certain types of sponsorship?

Business and Charities

What can business teach the management of charity/ non-profit sector? 

Information

■ Recently published FT Special Reports can be viewed at www.ft.com/specialreports 

A full list of published reports can be viewed at http://www.ft.com/reports/library Forthcoming FT Special Reports and their synopsis can be downloaded via the 

Future Reports link on the www.ft.com/specialreports page. 

For website assistance please call + (0) 20 7775 6297.

This editorial synopsis must not be amended in any way by anyone other than the Editor of Special Reports. 

All submissions or suggestions for editorial features should be sent to reports@ft.com 

This is to ensure all suggestions can be assessed and to enable the editorial team to cope with the huge volume of approaches that would otherwise stop them from doing their work. Due to the volume of approaches the editorial team are unable to confirm receipt or respond to all enquiries. 

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or your usual Financial Times representative.

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Business Education: 

Global MBA Magazine

The Financial Times proposes to publish this FT Report on 08 February, 2020

We plan to include the following features (please note that this list is provisional):

Introduction

2020 was the year of revival for the MBA as the pandemic-fuelled recession reversed years of declining business school applications. But can the MBA bull run continue into 2021 when ongoing challenges getting to campus and the need to teach classes on Zoom rather than in a lecture hall reduce the attraction of postgraduate management education?

Editor’s Letter

A column looking at developments in business education and our coverage. 

Rankings, Data, Analysis

What does this year’s latest FT ranking of MBA courses tell us about trends in the market? Plus an explanation of the criteria for a place in the list. 

Management Column

Andrew Hill, the FT’s management editor, explores current thinking around leadership.

Professor’s Column

A business school professor shares thoughts and research on challenges facing business today.  

Localisation

Travel restrictions have forced many of us to work at home - or closer to it - and the same has been true for business school students. There are also other factors pushing people to learn on programmes in their home countries rather than abroad, which might make this a long-term trend. 

Tuition Fees

Many students hoping to come to campus to learn and network with classmates and tutors have been forced to take what they see as an inferior alternative with online-only classes. Yet fees have not been cut or refunded. Is this a sustainable position for business schools? 

Sustainable Business

Sustainability is an increasingly important issue for many students. This piece looks at how business schools are responding to this in their MBA teaching. 

Teaching Empathy

Business schools face pressure to integrate empathy into the curriculum and teach the next generation of managers how to manage in more enlightened ways to motivate and improve workplace wellbeing.

Profile

An interview with a successful graduate about their MBA and career progress. 

Charting MBA Data

The FT’s rankings team use charts to explore trends in the data that went to make up this

year’s top 100 list.

Going Online

What we have learned from the mass experiment in taking full-time MBA courses online during the pandemic. 

Whether to go to Business School

Is 2021 the right time to apply to business school? This piece looks at the factors a potential applicant needs to consider before committing to a full-time business education.

How to get to Business School

A practical guide to choosing a school, preparing your application and interviewing for a place on a full-time MBA degree programme.

Technology

One of the FT’s tech team explores developments that will affect business and our working lives

Student Views

A collection of opinions on topics of the day from a sample of the current generation of MBA students.

Editorial information:

Special Reports are written by FT staff journalists and a small number of selected freelance writers. They will be specialists in the field and already have regular contacts to update them. It is therefore difficult for an unsolicited submission to be so compelling that it forces its way on to a writer’s agenda. However, it does happen occasionally. We ask that all submissions be sent to ftreports@ft.com, from where they are forwarded to the appropriate writer.

Please also note that due to the volume of material received, it is not always possible to acknowledge or reply to every submission.

■ Recently published Surveys and FT Reports, as well as a list of forthcoming FT Reports and their synopses can be downloaded by going to www.ft.com/special-reports and clicking on the link to the Reports library.

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■ Back issues of printed Survey and FT Reports can be obtained from: Historic Newspapers, Signature Online Limited, No 1 waterside Station Road, Harpenden, Herts, AL5 4US; Tel. no: 0870 165 1470; Fax no: 01582 469 248; or email: info@back-issue-newspapers.co.uk

This editorial synopsis must not be amended in any way by anyone other than the Editor of Supplements and Special Reports.

Advertisement and Sponsorship Information

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UK’s Leading Management Consultants

The Financial Times proposes to publish this FT Report on February 18, 2021

We are likely to include the following articles (please note that this list is provisional):

The Financial Times and its partner Statista, the data company, propose to publish this report on February 18, including a listing of consultancies recommended by clients and peers, rated in 29 sectors and specialisms. 

In an extraordinary year, with business facing unprecedented challenges and change, how did consultants respond to help clients - and what will 2021 bring, with the ongoing pandemic and Brexit? 

Articles by FT journalists are likely to include (please note that this list is provisional):

The Future of Work

Consultants have long worked remotely and flexibly, but the pandemic has tested the resilience of firms' systems for enabling work outside the office and put pressure on companies with an office-centric approach. How have consultants adapted to the new reality of work and how are they applying their experience to help their clients? 

Government

The government's reliance on management consultancies has been highlighted - sometimes controversially - during the Covid 19 crisis, when it has spent billions of pounds on the big firms. What are the pros and cons of relying on outside expertise and what have we learnt? 

Turnround Consultancy

UK hospitality is one of the businesses worst hit by coronavirus. The restaurant sector was already challenged by oversupply and rising rents, rates and wage bills. Of the 15 largest casual dining chains, most have undergone some form of insolvency process, while in the food-to-go sector several called in experts to help them adjust to people working from home rather than city centres. Consultants have helped clients reduce estates, pivot to delivery and advise on financing to see them through the crisis. 

Brexit

Since the 2016 referendum, consultancies have been increasingly busy with work around Brexit. As the UK enters a new relationship with Europe in 2021, what role are consultancies playing and are they expecting a boom year in this work?

Diversity

Focus on gender diversity and inclusion has increased in consultancy in recent years, with new networking initiatives from industry bodies and some of the big firms. What challenges do women face in consultancy and is it becoming a more equal place to work? 

Health

The sector has been at the forefront of the pandemic - how has consultants’ role in the NHS and private health changed amid the coronavirus crisis?

Information

■ Recently published FT Special Reports can be viewed at www.ft.com/specialreports 

A full list of published reports can be viewed at http://www.ft.com/reports/library Forthcoming FT Special Reports and their synopsis can be downloaded via the 

Future Reports link on the www.ft.com/specialreports page. 

For website assistance please call + (0) 20 7775 6297.

This editorial synopsis must not be amended in any way by anyone other than the Editor of Supplements and Special Reports. 

All submissions or suggestions for editorial features should be sent to reports@ft.com 

This is to ensure all suggestions can be assessed and to enable the editorial team to cope with the huge volume of approaches that would otherwise stop them from doing their work. Due to the volume of approaches the editorial team are unable to confirm receipt or respond to all enquiries. 

Advertisement and Sponsorship Information

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or your usual Financial Times representative.

Please note the advertising representatives cannot assist with editorial approaches or other editorial matters. Please be advised Financial Times advertisers and sponsors have no influence on editorial content.

Remaking Europe: Healthcare

The Financial Times proposes to publish this FT Report in 2020

We plan to include the following features (please note that this list is provisional):

The Covid-19 pandemic dramatically changed the way we live and work, precipitating changes in areas like healthcare, education and logistics that would otherwise have taken decades to push through. 

Healthcare systems, traditionally slow to change, have had to adopt new practices overnight. 

Many of Europe’s deep tech startups are now seeing a new demand for their solutions. These are the technologies that will help shape the post-pandemic world, and many of them are emerging from outside the traditional European technology hubs such as London, Paris and Berlin. The profile of these startups is also more diverse than the typical business, with, for example, more female founders bringing in a different perspective.  

We will also be paying particular attention to the financing of such startups: where is funding coming from, and what sources are available, whether private, public and pan-European?

Each piece in this report will look at different areas undergoing rapid change, and would include a list of “challenger” companies, identified on the basis of factors such as recent strong growth, recent fundraising, or technical breakthrough. 

Remote Healthcare.  

Remote consultations became the norm during the pandemic, but the challenge now will be to take this further —not just consulting your doctor remotely, but using wearables to monitor health in a different way, keeping patients out of hospitals wherever possible.

AI to Speed up Drug Discovery.

The pharmaceuticals industry, stuck in a rut for years with increasing costs and slower pipelines, has been forced into a big shakeup. A number of trials are underway to see if AI can help speed up the drug discovery process.

Covid-19 Treatments.

A vast array of technologies have been developed to help manage the pandemic, from rapid testing solutions to breathing monitors, cough trackers and using genomics to identify patients most likely to get a severe reaction to Covid-19. But how easy has it been for them to get their solutions adopted by national health services? 

Mental Health Issues

Were also highlighted during the pandemic, and many startups offering remote and automated solutions saw huge demand for their services. Have we started to break taboos about discussing mental health and could some of these products start to be integrated into the workplace, for example? 

The Hospital of the Future.

From making MRI machines far more portable and affordable to the iKnife that can “smell” cancer cells, medical equipment is developing very rapidly. How will it change the way hospitals are built and run in the future — will a hospital even exist as the big centralised institution, if operations can increasingly be done in a decentralised way? What kind of savings might some of these new approaches offer? 

Funding.

Where will the money for Europe’s healthcare revamp come from? There has been a recent increase in VCs interested in investing in this emerging sector, and there is money from government initiatives as well. Will it be enough to create the wide-scale changes needed? 

Information

■ Recently published FT Special Reports can be viewed at www.ft.com/specialreports

A full list of published reports can be viewed at http://www.ft.com/reports/library Forthcoming FT Special Reports and their synopsis can be downloaded via the

Future Reports link on the www.ft.com/specialreports page.

For website assistance please call + (0) 20 7775 6297.

This editorial synopsis must not be amended in any way by anyone other than the Editor of Special Reports.

All submissions or suggestions for editorial features should be sent to reports@ft.com

This is to ensure all suggestions can be assessed and to enable the editorial team to cope with the huge volume of approaches that would otherwise stop them from doing their work. Due to the volume of approaches the editorial team are unable to confirm receipt or respond to all enquiries.

Advertisement and Sponsorship Information

For details of the advertising and sponsorship opportunities please contact:

Ian Edwards +44 (0)7957 630821, ian.edwards@ft.com

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Please note the advertising representatives cannot assist with editorial approaches or other editorial matters. Please be advised Financial Times advertisers and sponsors have no influence on editorial content.

FTfm Special Report: ETF’s

The Financial Times proposes to publish this report in 2020

We plan to include the following features (please note that this list is provisional):

The Battle of the ESG Indices. 

There is a proliferation of indices that rank companies according to environmental, social and governance performance, but companies often rank very differently. We examine which indices are dominant at the moment, in terms of investment in ETFS tracking them, and which are the fastest growing.

SIDEBAR

If you want to ignore commercial rankings and focus on making sure your investments are aligned with the UN’s sustainable development goals, what ETFs are available? We explore the options and showcase an interactive digital tool (produced by TrackInsight, a data partner of the FT, in collaboration with Unctad) that helps select ETFs which reflect specific SDGs

Negative Interest Rates and Fixed Income.

Are negative interest rates having an impact on fixed income ETF flows? And if so, what should investors bear in mind before investing in different categories such as sovereign bonds, investment quality corporate bonds and high-yield.

Growth vs Value ETFs. 

After turbulent political events such as Brexit and the election of a new US president, with the roll-out of coronavirus vaccines to look forward to, many are wondering whether the popularity of growth ETFs -- that focus on companies that are expected to outperform their peers, such as the US Big Tech ‘Faangs’ - will wane and there will finally be a return to ‘value’ ETFs, which invest in companies that appear to be cheap.

Gold ETFs. 

Gold ETFs were a significant driver of the rise in gold prices over the past year, but with the fear of the fallout from the pandemic receding will ETFs continue to play a significant role in the direction of gold prices in the year ahead.

Active ETFs. 

The rise of the new category of active non-transparent ETFs has sparked a number of applications from US mutual fund providers to convert their products into ETFs. Is this likely to continue and will the new products finally get the go-ahead in Europe?

China vs US. 

Trump’s order to ban US investors from holding stakes in Chinese companies with connections to the military caused shock waves for the ETF industry because many of the companies are included in indices tracked by the funds. What are the prospects for 

Information

■ Recently published FT Special Reports can be viewed at www.ft.com/specialreports 

A full list of published reports can be viewed at http://www.ft.com/reports/library Forthcoming FT Special Reports and their synopsis can be downloaded via the 

Future Reports link on the www.ft.com/specialreports page. 

For website assistance please call + (0) 20 7775 6297.

This editorial synopsis must not be amended in any way by anyone other than the Editor of Special Reports. 

All submissions or suggestions for editorial features should be sent to reports@ft.com 

This is to ensure all suggestions can be assessed and to enable the editorial team to cope with the huge volume of approaches that would otherwise stop them from doing their work. Due to the volume of approaches the editorial team are unable to confirm receipt or respond to all enquiries. 

Advertisement and Sponsorship Information

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Tom Da Costa on +44 (0)20 7873 4569, tom.dacosta@ft.com

or your usual Financial Times representative.

Please note the advertising representatives cannot assist with editorial approaches or other editorial matters. Please be advised Financial Times advertisers and sponsors have no influence on editorial content.

Technology: Latin America

The Financial Times proposes to publish this FT Report on May 01^st, 2020

We plan to include the following features (please note that this list is provisional):

Introduction

Latam tech is coming of age. After a slow start, the arrival last year of major investors such as Japan's Softbank and Chinese players such as Tencent have brought a flood of new money. Investment in 2019 totalled around $5bn and the number of venture capital firms active in the region is growing fast. 

Interview with leading tech fund investor in the region

Tech for Good

While Brazil is not likely to create a new social network or score a moonshot, there is a great deal of space for technology to improve people's lives in a country with huge social needs, whether in terms of tech-enabled education programmes to improve literacy, healthcare programmes to lower the cost of care or group buying to reduce the price of basic goods. 

Incumbents Play Catch-up

Brazil's old guard companies embrace tech. Some of the country's biggest companies - banks Itaú and Bradesco and beverage giant Ambev - are offering "fast tracks" to start-ups to supply innovations. The companies know they can't attract the talent that start-ups do, so their thinking is this "fast track" is a way to obtain cutting edge tech. 

Mexico Tech

Why does Mexico, Latin America's second biggest economy, not have a single unicorn? Part of the answer relates to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his tech problem. López Obrador's vision for the economy is one fired by fossil fuels and powered by state-led development. Tech is not a word often heard in the government's vocabulary. 

Colombia Tech

Despite President Duque's enthusiastic rhetoric promoting what he likes to call the "Orange Economy", tech companies in Colombia have had mixed fortunes. Uber's experience is a sobering lesson: following a battle over regulation, Uber exited the country earlier this month amid acrimony. 

Medellin

Better known as the hometown of one of the world's most notorious drug traffickers, Colombia's second city is re-inventing itself as a tech hub. Chosen as the only city in Latin America to host one of the Centres for the 4th Industrial Revolution, Medellin is now working on cutting-edge blockchain and AI projects. 

Montevideo

Tiny Uruguay has become an unlikely software star. Supportive government policies, a well-educated population, low costs and good internet access mean the country of 3.5m now exports software to more than 52 nations. 

Buenos Aires

Argentina has been the premier origin of Latin America's unicorns, with retailing giants such as Mercado Libre (Latam's Amazon). But will the new Peronist government promote the knowledge economy or will their protectionist and statist bent undermine all that? 

Chile

A look at Start-up Chile, a public start-up accelerator created by the Chilean Government for high-potential entrepreneurs. Today, Start-Up Chile is the leading accelerator in Latin America and among the top 10 globally. 

Company Profiles

Brazil Fintech

Known for its high costs and bureaucracy Brazil’s economy remains dominated by five big, traditional banks. The flipside is that this is making it an increasingly attractive target for agile technology start-ups.

Information

■ Recently published FT Special Reports can be viewed at www.ft.com/specialreports

A full list of published reports can be viewed at http://www.ft.com/reports/library Forthcoming FT Special Reports and their synopsis can be downloaded via the

Future Reports link on the www.ft.com/specialreports page.

For website assistance please call + (0) 20 7775 6297.

This editorial synopsis must not be amended in any way by anyone other than the Editor of Special Reports.

All submissions or suggestions for editorial features should be sent to reports@ft.com

This is to ensure all suggestions can be assessed and to enable the editorial team to cope with the huge volume of approaches that would otherwise stop them from doing their work. Due to the volume of approaches the editorial team are unable to confirm receipt or respond to all enquiries.

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Brazil

Alessandre Siano +55 11 992 912 814, alessandre.siano@ft.com

Argentina, Chile, Uruguay & Paraguay

Gonzalo Rio +54 9 11 5497 6679, gonzalo.rio@ft.com or your usual Financial Times representative.

Please note the advertising representatives cannot assist with editorial approaches or other editorial matters. Please be advised Financial Times advertisers and sponsors have no influence on editorial content