Geopolitical risk is one of the five categories of risk identified in the World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report, with significant effects on the global and regional peace, stability, and development. How to identify, measure, forecast, and manage the impact that geopolitical risks on human well-being are taken into consideration by researchers worldwide. Global scientific researchers have not yet reached a consensus on the definition of geopolitical risks. Geopolitical risk research has made notable progress in the fields of 1) analyzing the causal factors of geopolitical risks; 2) identifying the impact of geopolitical risks; and 3) measuring and mapping geopolitical risks. Considering the fact that challenges come from the spatiotemporal differences and variability of geopolitical risk factors, the complexity of the various risk causing factors on interaction and response mechanisms, and the unpredictability and uncertainty of geopolitical risks, geopolitical risk research has made further progress on the following frontier issues: 1) identification of geopolitical risk causing factors; 2) occurrence mechanism of geopolitical risks; and 3) monitoring and simulation of geopolitical risks. Future directions of geopolitical risk research in China include: 1) research on national geo-security with spatial differentiation, especially forthesurrounding areas of China; 2) quantitative reconstruction and numerical simulation of the geopolitical risks across multiple scales and multiple geo-factors; 3) new computation ways supporting the interaction of other scientific disciplines and the use of big data, and new platform integrating early warning of geopolitical risks; 4) focusing on scientific issues and promoting the ability of theoretical and practical research output in dealing with geopolitical issues.