IMPACTFUL
noteworthy advances in the methods and practices of foresight and futures studies
IMAGINARIES, IMAGINATIONS & IMAGES OF THE FUTURE
works that employ design-based, multi-sensorial, experiential and/or play-driven, literary, gaming, musical and other artistic expressions to approach explorations of futures thinking
Judges Impression
Imaginaries, Imaginations of the Future
“Andrew Merrie presents powerful and relevant scenarios rooted in valuable research, and with great vision.”
Imaginaries, Imaginations of the Future
"I think the impact really shows in the combination of scenarios inspired by sci-fi and impact on technology thinking, design, and possibilities, all in the context of sustainability."
Radical Ocean Futures
The global ocean has gone from infinite, wild and thriving…to finite, fragile and full of garbage. Humanity has had such an impact that we have even reshaped the genetic structure of many marine species. The Ocean matters because it feeds us, generates most of the air we breathe, helps to regulate our climate, and much more. At its heart, Radical Ocean Futures offers a set of compelling provocations to help us think differently about the future of the ocean. We applied a method out of Silicon Valley called ‘Science Fiction Prototyping’ to create narrative scenarios of the future ocean. These distinct future stories, all set around the year 2070 are built on the findings of hundreds of scientific papers. Together, they represent a tapestry of possible futures and they enable us to explore the implications & the potential of a changing ocean for human society and natural ecosystems. The first tells the story of Astrid, the Seafood CEO who farmed the jellyfish deserts and successfully privatised global food security. In the second, we follow Alejandro, one of the world’s last marine fishers, as he bears witness to the oceanic death spiral that humanity failed to avoid. In the third, Fatima, a reporter, writes about how small Pacific islands banded together to survive sea-level rise and reinvent their civilization under the waves. In the final narrative, our protagonist Michelle partners with AI & underwater robots to restore coral reefs and other marine ecosystems. The project moves beyond the story and includes specially commissioned artwork, music and audio narrations. This approach has enhanced the project’s impact substantially. In October 2022, the Science Fiction: Voyage to the imagination exhibition opened at the London Science Museum and Radical Ocean Futures is featured as a key part of the climate futures section.
A Note from the Author:
Please read read the stories, access the academic journal article, see the images, listen to the music and hear the narrative voiceovers through the project website. You can also connect with author through the website or email: radicalearthfutures@gmail.com
inclusive
utilizes participatory futures approaches and practices to create change and/or enhance interconnectedness
Stuart Candy
The Futures Bazaar:
A Public Imagination Toolkit
Thinking concretely about times to come is harder and rarer than it should be. THE FUTURES BAZAAR: A PUBLIC IMAGINATION TOOLKIT is designed to help make it easier and more common. It began as a one-off event to introduce futures concepts to hundreds of participants across the BBC. This worked so well that it grew into a publicly available toolkit copublished by the BBC itself. Given the organisation’s tremendous global reach, this project represents a potential milestone for introductory access to foresight. APF recognition would help encourage popular engagement, enhancing the visibility of futures in countless contexts. At a Futures Bazaar, participants bring ordinary household objects that would otherwise be thrown away, and, step by step, transform them into artefacts from various futures. Organisers may stage it as a stand-alone event, or within a larger workshop, course, series, or festival. It is for players of all ages, in all fields, to expand horizons, explore new ideas, and use making and storytelling to practise creative foresight. Since its inception, this project has been about maximising inclusion. The process itself centres on playfulness and accessibility, an agenda carrying through all other layers by design. It is published in open access, and fuelled by participants’ creativity applied to items readily available at little or no expense. It will work at the scale of a dozen people or hundreds. The toolkit includes a Manual to support event planning, Slides to run it, and Printouts to distribute on the day; all PDFs require no special software licences. The print assets, designed to minimise paper and ink usage, work equally in B&W or colour. And conceptually, the bazaar (marketplace, souk, or fair) is a kind of community gathering that exists around the world. No prior futures knowledge, design or making skill is needed to take part.
Alternative Download:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/364241607_The_Futures_Bazaar_A_Public_Imagination_Toolkit
INTERDEPENDENT
creates further awareness and understanding of challenges using a systems-lens, approaches, and/or practices
Erich Eichstetter
Jose Pelaez
LABe: Digital Gastronomy Lab
At BCC Innovation we envision the future of gastronomy so that companies and governments can anticipate the challenges that lie ahead. To this end, we use a range of methodologies for forecasting and designing future scenarios aligned with our principles and values. In this respect, we collaborate in the implementation of strategies toward achieving desirable futures, we look for signs of change in our sector, identify leverage points for preferred scenarios, and evaluate the signs together with global megatrends and disruptions to establish plausible scenarios. BCC Innovation has published several reports on futures in various contexts, always in the realm of food. Our goal is to meet the challenges of the future food system through gastronomy and to address these challenges in a humanistic, sustainable, healthy, and delicious way. We have created a space where multidisciplinary actors can reflect on the challenges that will come about in the future of food and gastronomy to create relevant solutions today. We share and create visions of the future together through conversations, networking, and practical actions to empower stakeholders to enact change.
INDIGENOUS
promotes future-oriented practices rooted in Indigenous, Native, and/or endogenous approaches, concepts, practices, and voices
Judges Impression
“Your initiative is an inspiring one - through the authentic and dynamic engagement of indigenous peoples and especially youth, and the focus not only on past injustices but on imagining better futures. You are really pushing the conversation forward on how the work of foresight can be decolonized and more inclusive, which can inform how all futurists can do better.”
image source: https://www.maorifutures.co.nz/
Tokona Te Raki Māori
Futures Collective
Eruera is the Executive Director of Tokona te Raki, the Māori Future Makers based in Ōtautahi Christchurch New Zealand. This indigenous social innovation lab is housed under the mantle of an indigenous tribe, Ngai Tahu, and uses indigenous cultural knowledge to find ways of thinking and doing to create a better future. Their focus is on decolonising broken systems and driving systemic change within the mainstream, whilst also re-imagining indigenous futures and empowering indigenous youth to create new and better horizons. A big part of Tokona te Raki is growing the next generation of Maori leadership. Through their Maori Future’s Academy they recruit, employ, train and support a cohort of young Maori future-makers through their social enterprise. They work across a range of indigenous development, research, co-design and futures thinking projects that creates a revenue stream to support Maori future-making into a profession. The website shows current examples of rangatahi planning and implementing projects and research of national and international significance, capturing images of the future using a range of approaches. In 2022 Eru and the team have been consolidating their indigenous model and methodology for future making, called Te Korekoreka. This futures approach embodies the interconnectedness of people with each other and with their past. This intergenerational work has been consolidated on a newly established website, to be launched soon (see mock website link). One of the recent focuses on justice and fairness has been the work undertaken in removing streaming from schools. This has shown to have a detrimental impact on Māori and yet this ‘used future’ persists. Although this is a team approach Eru has played a pivotal role in creating the vision and coordinating, convening and capability building. This inspirational work focuses on moving beyond reparation for past mistakes of colonialism to a place of hope and possibility. Eru describes this as follows: “Future making is not new to Māori. The words we use to describe this process may be new, but the concepts and wisdom are not. It takes courage to imagine a new future, to learn from your past, to understand your present, and to commit to a deliberate course of action to move you from your current reality to a better one.”
INTERNATIONAL
leverages multinational, regional and/or global engagement to deliver outcomes, effects, and impact
Judges Impression
“The global, interdependent nature of working with the UN stakeholders holds great potential for impact not only for our society, but in advancing strategic foresight as a reputable practice for systemic change.”
image source: Unsplash
Foresight for Systems Transformation Developed for United Nations Global Pulse
SOIF Foresight trainers, in collaboration with the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organisation, and UN Global Pulse, designed and delivered a 10-week training programme for 86 individuals across UN agencies. More than 50 countries were represented as UN workers learned how to use foresight in humanitarian, security and development practice, integrating foresight methods within UN processes. Participants were supported to develop "foresight experiments", ongoing real-word applications of foresight within the UN. The programme represents a major step towards integrating foresight into UN systems.
INTERGENERATIONAL
- addresses intergenerational justice and fairness through explicit futures and foresight tools and methods
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Judges Impression
“The Futures Exhibition at the Smithsonian Institute provided massive exposure to foresight thinking for the next generation. It provided over 65,000 action commitments to create a better future while reaching over 30,000 children. Through creative exhibitions, a play lab, virtual reality simulations, and futurists in residence, the Exhibition encouraged participants to engage and imagine the future in a memorable way.”
Futures Exhibition a
the Smithsonian Institute
Part exhibition, part festival, FUTURES presents nearly 32,000 square feet of new immersive site-specific art installations, interactives, working experiments, inventions, speculative designs, and “artifacts of the future,” as well as historic objects and discoveries from 23 of the Smithsonian’s museums, major initiatives, and research centers. Of the nearly 150 objects on view, several are making their public debut: an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven rover from Alphabet’s X that could transform agriculture; a Planetary Society space sail for deep space travel; a Loon internet balloon; the first full-scale Buckminster Fuller geodesic dome built in North America; the world’s first controlled thermonuclear fusion device; and more. Here’s some FUTURES fun by the numbers: 65,000 action commitments made for a better future 30,000 kids guides distributed to inspire the next generation 5,000 articles written about FUTURES 100 school and community group visits 1 marriage proposal Future Agents shared more than 1 million insights into their vision of the future. We studied the data and we’re excited to share that after visiting FUTURES, 83% could imagine a better future and 80% felt inspired to take action. We also learned some fun factoids, like that we think teleportation will be our “future superpower” and a universal language will unite people most effectively (an extraterrestrial invasion was a close second 🛸).
IMPLEMENTATION
showcases work that clearly demonstrates where futures and foresight were integral to a process and/or practice within a community, corporate, agency, and governance context
Judges Impression
"Admirable work that showcases foresight as a key component of a broader industry evolution issue, not simply an isolated activity"
image source: WIX
Strengthening Agro-climatic Monitoring and Information System (SAMIS)
Coffee and banana Storymaps, Resilient pathways for the agricultural sector
Learning from the futures, an imperative for designing resilient agri-food systems; AEZ analytics and foresight planning supported the government of Lao PDR. In the face of climate change, governments and other actors are increasingly looking to foresight to help imagine and experiment with potential future climate conditions, and their interactions with other (economic, political, socio-cultural) uncertainties (Vermeulen et al. 2013).
Agriculture is vital to the landlocked nation of Lao PDR, employing more than 73 percent of its citizens and contributing approximately 28 percent to the country’s GDP while using a little more than 10% of its land (FAO, 2021). Thinking transformation and resilient agri-food systems are not only an imperative for the country but the most powerful way to change its narrative while leaving no one and no ecosystem behind. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) have cooperated over several decades to develop and implement the Agro-Ecological Zones (AEZ) modeling framework and databases.
The AEZ Suitability and Yield maps as outputs under the SAMIS project form excellent scientifically approved support for robust and future resilient policy formation for adaptation planning and have been complemented with the use of foresight methods. To make use of the analytics from this process in the best possible way, it is essential to find a way to convey the results and key messages to decision-makers and other stakeholders in a professional, convincing and understandable manner. This is where effective science communication becomes important. To convey the results of the AEZ maps as well as key actions and policy recommendations, foresight analysis tools and the concept of “story maps” have been used in Lao PDR.
Judges Impression
“I find this work extraordinary! Educating the next generation to be more inclusive, kinder, gentler, creative, and futures literate. The kind of work that can transform the worldview of an entire generation has the potential for great things. I love the emphasis on making, materializing the futures is the most important part of futures work today in my opinion.”
image source: WIX
The Heroine's Journey:
Futures Tales for All Ages
The book is a part of a series titled "The Heroine's Journey: Futures Tales for Change Makers of All Ages". The series consists of a collection of tales inspired by ancient mythology, new realities and emergent futures. The series is designed to appeal to Change Makers of All Ages who desire to change themselves and the world. Book 1, The Future Maker, is in two parts: The Girl Who Knew the Future and The Girl Who Changed the Future. The tale was inspired by the Greek story of Cassandra, Norse Mythology and the life and work of generations of environmentalists. The Girl Who Knew the Future has the following storyline: "Inga can see the fiery future that awaits the world. She must set forth on a quest to do that which she has been born to do... But will we listen?" The Girl Who Changed the Future has the following storyline: "Inga, more than any other, understands that the world is at peril, yet she must undertake a Heroine's journey before she can save the future from burning. A story for our times." The book is particularly valuable and significantly important to understanding how heterogeneous and plural our worldviews and myths about futures and this book could expand our perspectives and drive further conversations on how intergenerational fairness provokes the emergence of new and radical imaginaries about the future. The book engenders new inspirations on ways to communicate and generate insightful futures by writing emergent mythologies that inspires. The book sets the stage for altering our views about a hero's journey set forth by a girl who desire to change herself and the world. The book is a collection of tales – inspired by past tales, new realities and emergent futures.
APF IF AWARD
HONORABLE MENTIONS
2022 Advisory Committee
Nicole Brkic
In the Name of Justice
Affective polarization and the futures of societal coordination
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Bárbara Ferrer
Abril Chimal
Nuestros Futuros / Our Futures
El valor de imaginar el futuro para construir uno mejor para todos y todas. / The courage to imagine the future to build a better one for everyone.
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Kathryn Cramer
Automated Design Fiction
A Method for Inferring Hidden Mechanics of GPT-3
Ksenija Djuricic
Entrepreneurial Foresight as the Entrepreneurs’ Transformative Power
Inducing contextual change through opportunity formation
Andrew Curry
A Critical History of Scenario Planning
Sohail Inayatullah
Ralph
Mercer
Ivana
Milojević
John A.
Sweeney
Jaqueline Weigel
CLA 3.0 - Thirty Years of Transformative Research
2022 if awards advisory cohort
2022 APF IF AWARD JUDGES
Valerie Fox
Enabling thriving entrepreneurial communities of communities locally, nationally and internationally based on new economy practices of partnership and intentional diversity and through design and future-thinking modelling, Valerie Fox is best known for the co-founding and execution of the DMZ, launched in 2010, which by 2015 was named the number one University Business Incubator in North America and number 3 in the world. She left soon after to found The Pivotal Point where she helps grow community-based incubators worldwide through coaching, mentoring and co-creation. Val has over 30 years in the digital world, where she started a graphic design business, and then had the fortune of being sought by IBM, to be part of their senior innovation network, where she led design teams for enterprise software design, was creative director for large online experiences such as the Sydney Olympics, and was awarded 5 patents, including the Universal Shopping Cart for the Web.
Fisayo Oyewale
Fisayo Oyewale is a 2022 SOIF alumna, an NGFP Fellow, and a contributor to the African Digital Futures project. As UNICEF Youth Foresight Fellow, she contributes her voice and work to making futures thinking more accessible to young people. She was a judge for the NGFP 2022 awards and is currently a consultant at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Fisayo is a foresight practitioner and researcher at the School of International Futures on Artificial Intelligence for Development in Africa. Her work as a foresight practitioner is at the intersection of food systems, governance, technology, youth voices, Africa, and futures. Some of her projects on African food systems include; the Farmers' Futures Program (FFP), which leverages a participatory futures approach and dialogue to facilitate long-term thinking and collective actions toward desired futures for farmers. She has also led the grassroots-stakeholders futures process to investigate challenges in the food system, the urgency of planetary crisis, and individual agency in 4 African countries.
Martin Pérez Comisso
Martín is a Ph.D. candidate in Human and Social Dimensions of Science and Technology at Arizona State University. His dissertation (in writing) is about the ways of knowledge the future that Latin American Futurisms offer. Martin has research in digital and material emerging technologies, and it's associated with the Societal and Ethical Implications (SEI) of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI). Martín holds a degree and master's in Chemistry from the Universidad de Chile, where he also worked as a lecturer on technology studies, science governance, knowledge systems, and sustainability. For more than a decade, he has teach universities in the Americas about emerging technologies, situated knowledges and socio-technical change.
Rahul Chandran
Rahul has been working on long-term sustainability and integrating futures/foresight into think-tanks for almost 15 years (and failing, as much as succeeding); He’s lead teams at the School of International Futures, building the Inter-generational equity model for Portugal; acted as a judge for the Joseph Jaworski award -- and generally been in/around the field -- from a practice/policy perspective, rather than a pure-play futurist perspective.
Shakil Ahmed
Shakil Ahmed is an educator, futurist and storyteller at Ridiculous Futures, Country Lead of EdTech Hub and National Consultant of Blended Education at a2i, Government of Bangladesh. He's been consulting organisations, government and individuals on futures thinking since 2012 and has notably worked with the innovation unit of the Prime Ministers Office on the Futures of Education in Bangladesh in 2041, worked with BRAC on the futures of their education program in 2042 and worked with organisations, based in Bangladesh such as ActionAid, Goethe Institut and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung on exploring their futures as well. He was also awarded the School of International Futures's NGFP award in Asia in 2019 and has just got admitted to a PhD program in Foresight in Educational Leadership and Technology Management at Tamkang University.
Sheila Magri
Sheila is a Latin American consultant about innovation and future on/of communications. She is also a PhD candidate, willing to delve deeper into future studies. Since the beginning of her career, she has been working with trends in communication, culture, media, human rights, ethics and consumption. Over the last 30 years, she became an expert in brand reputation and vision. She focused on developing plans based on mapping trends in society, consumers, and in the media. Sheila was CEO of two global PR agencies in Brazil, Hill and Knowlton and FTI Consulting, where she developed innovative projects for global multinationals. At the very beginning of her career she worked as Secretary General of Amnesty International in Brazil and as a researcher at Centro Cultural São Paulo. Studies about the future permeated her entire trajectory.
Alina Hussain
Education Manager at the Indigenous Friends Association. My role includes building curriculum for and facilitating programs which focus on digital literacy and Indigenous futurisms. I believe that providing education and ownership of digital technology can bring about a change in the technology industry, allowing it to become a less exclusive space. This can allow Indigenous youth to see themselves in the future and further give them the confidence to proactively engage in the technology industry. For my Master’s thesis, I built a design system for Indigenous youth to learn how to create inclusive online spaces within which to exist safely. This design system, when put into practice with the Indigenous Friends Association mobile app, resulted in significant changes in user engagement and total users. My experience with futures resides here, in showing youth how to see themselves in the future, and teaching them how to get there.
Dr. Sarah Skidmore
Dr. Sarah Skidmore, DSL, MA is a Leadership Doctor and experienced Senior Strategic Consultant. She is a specialized provider of people programs, leader development, strategic foresight, change management, and strategy & innovation services. In addition to her work as a Leadership Doctor, she teaches Mobile & Emerging Technology Marketing at Full Sail University. Her Clifton Strengths are Futuristic / Learner / Intellection / Input / Ideation.
David Hamon
David Hamon Spearheaded the 1st HIV prevention program for uniformed services by the defense departmen. Launched the 1st joint research organization between US DoD, a National laboratory, university faculty, and students (JTAC at University of Chicago). Director for Banyan Analytics, the 1st research and analysis organization to project future US involvement in nuclear, biological, chemical, and radiological incidents in Asia (including future public health crises), Oceania & Island Security, and implementing partner for the Asia-Pacific re-balance policy.
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Doris Viljoen
Director of Institute for Futures Research, and Senior Lecturer in Futures Studies at Stellenbosch Business School At the Institute for Futures Research, Doris endeavors to interpret global as well as local trends and assess their relevance for South Africa and Africa. She has a wide range of research interests and is passionate about asking the right questions, searching for and finding relevant data, and designing tools and techniques to facilitate foresight.
Bryan Alexander
Writer, futurist, teacher, speaker, consultant, researcher. Conducts environmental scanning for emerging technology and the future of higher education. Gives presentations and talks. Leads workshops. Conducts research. Writes white papers, as well as creating content in multimedia (audio, video, images). Consults on educational technology, Focus areas include social media, digital storytelling, mobile devices, and gaming. Faculty experience teaching English literature, composition, multimedia, and cyberculture. Specialties: Teaching and learning with social media, gaming, and mobile/wireless computing.
Dr. Elissa Farrow
Social Scientist, futurist, facilitator and consultant, Dr Elissa Farrow is a partner to organisations and individuals committed to creating futures through blending change delivery disciplines with deep participatory process. Her doctoral research explored organisations of the future and the implications to leaders, teams and the adaptation approach due to artificial intelligence.
Dr. Peter C. Bishop
Dr. Peter C. Bishop is the Exec Director of Teach the Future, Inc., having retired as an Associate Professor of Strategic Foresight and Director of the graduate program in Foresight at the University of Houston in August 2013
Fabian Wallace-Stephens
Fabian Wallace-Stephens is particularly interested in how technology and the shift to net zero will transform jobs and the wider economy and his research on these topics has been featured in the Financial Times, Guardian and World Economic Forum. In 2019 he developed four scenarios for the future of work in 2035, which have since been turned into a speculative exhibition of artefacts and collection of short stories. He has also designed a series of foresight labs, which apply these scenarios to different sectors and local economies, to explore future opportunities and challenges, and co-develop new innovations with employers and policy makers. Fabian is currently Foresight Lead at the RSA where he focuses on designing new participatory approaches that support a diverse range of citizens to imagine and shape better futures.
Marcello C. Bressan
Sebastian Campos-Moller
Marcello C. Bressan Foster knowledge and work on creating and developing innovative narratives for people and organizations. Specialties: Foresight, Education, Strategy and Marketing.
Sebastian Campos-Moller is an Award winning designer that grew up in Mexico City. A city built on a lake that has long dried up. Sebastian is an artist, strategic designer, futurist, system thinker, and facilitator of co-creative spaces and design implementation. He works in service of futures where our culture values relationships — relationships with each other, nature's systems and more-than-human stakeholders. Sebastian is a trained industrial designer and product designer, and has extensive experience with human-centred-design and user experience research. Sebastian has been working with different organizations to develop cultures of care. He is one of the founders of Ayudog, a not-for-profit organization that helps street dogs and cats through affordable spaying and neutering campaigns and facilitating adoption in Valle de Bravo, Mexico. His senior thesis at SCAD received a Bronze prize at IDEA '14 & a Red Dot Design Concept Award 2014.
Rachel Noonan
Rachel Noonan is Chief Strategy Officer at Forward, an entertainment obsessed innovation studio focused on elevating experiences with emerging technology. Rachel has developed first-to-market API integration partnerships that helped build a music streaming service from the ground up. She’s launched indie and blockbuster films at festivals, theatrically, and online. She’s worked with consumer technology solution companies who are at the nexus of experience and policy, supporting their communications, marketing, and consumer experience design. She has worked with notable brands such as Samsung, Rdio, Microsoft, Meta, and The Toronto International Film Festival. She is passionate about the power of responsible and sustainable design and is excited about the impact we have the potential to make as we design the future of our immersive digital worlds] Rachel also has a Masters of Design in Strategic Foresight and Innovation from Ontario College of Art and Design and has previously served on the Canadian Media Fund’s Innovation and Commercialization Jury.
Martin Pérez Comisso
Martín is a Ph.D. candidate in Human and Social Dimensions of Science and Technology at Arizona State University. His dissertation (in writing) is about the ways of acknowledging the future that Latin American Futurisms had. Martin has research in digital and material emerging technologies, and it's associated with the Societal and Ethical Implications (SEI) of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI). Martín holds a degree and master's in Chemistry from the Universidad de Chile, where he also worked as a lecturer on technology studies, science governance, knowledge systems, and sustainability. for more than a decade, he has taught in universities about emerging technologies.
Sarah Owen
Sarah is a trend forecaster, futurist and social scientist with a background in studying youth culture and social media. With 13 years of experience in future trends, consumer research and communication strategy, she specializes in guiding organizations through strategic foresight, scenario planning and trend analysis. Sarah has previously worked in the USA, Australia and Europe analyzing emerging trends and behavioral shifts for WGSN, consulting with Fortune 500 brands such as Intel, Chanel, and L'Oréal, and writing for the likes of Kinfolk, The New York Times, WARC and i-D magazine. As an academic, she has studied Strategic Foresight at the University of Houston and holds a master’s degree in Sociology from ISCTE in Portugal. She has presented at global events including Cannes Lions, Pause Fest, FUTR Summit and World Retail Congress, and has been quoted as an expert in The Financial Times, CNN, Vogue, Bloomberg and The Guardian. When she’s not searching for signals, she practices Kundalini yoga and volunteers at the Fungi Foundation as their Communications Director.
Laurent Bontoux
Experienced Senior Foresight Expert with a demonstrated history of working in government and industry, especially in Sustainable Development, Environment & Health issues and Water Resource Management (typical 'wicked problems'). My career has taken place mostly at the science-policy interface. Over the last few years, I have focused on developing and applying innovative foresight approaches to help people deepen their understanding of complex issues to support strategy development and decision making.
Ashish Manwar
Jenny Hwang
Ashish is a strategy and innovational professional, with a background in aeronautical engineering, re-design and systems strategy. He has over 20 years of experience serving and learning in interdisciplinary contexts, from corporations to marginalized communities, impact investment and applied research, to innovation labs. He focuses on collaborative foresight and living systems to support leadership and organizational recovery and governance preparedness. His pursuits also include discerning the roles of hope, satire and music in resilience and decision making. Ashish heads Foundations Enterprise and also serves as a leadership and foresight coach for organization leaders and teams.
Jenny Hwang is a Design strategist/researcher with years of experience within technology and branding sectors. Her practice focuses on making the practice of foresight more accessible and tangible for tech companies who are looking for ways to innovate for the future while remaining agile in their everyday practices. She holds a Masters of Design in Strategic Foresight and Innovation from OCAD University and also teaches at Brainstation as an instructor for Design Thinking and UX Design.
Kulbir Bachher
Having an innate talent to zoom out to see the bigger picture and dive into details has helped me initiate actions and implement changes to deliver insightful and practical business solutions. In my 13+ years of experience, I have successfully designed and ran an education start-up for underprivileged kids, managed million-dollar portfolios and designed services to enhance senior’s experience in a retirement home. Throughout my career, I have used Human-Centered Design and Service and Systems Design frameworks to understand various stakeholder's journeys and experiences and created solutions that exceed expectations.
Christine Martin
Innovation Designer | Engagement Specialist | Foresight Practitioner I am passionate about applying my strengths to empower people and groups to make positive change happen. I bring creative thinking, a participatory approach, innovation design, leadership skills, organizational savvy, strategic foresight experience, collaboration skills, systems thinking and a strategic approach that looks to the future.
Timothy Balko
Tim is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame where he teaches Foresight in Business and Society (UG), Strategic Foresight (MBA), and Business Problem Solving (UG). Before accepting his current full time teaching position, he served as the Foresight Program Coordinator and taught the course as an adjunct instructor. Prior to working at the Mendoza College of Business, Tim was the executive director of a not- for-profit organization and an attorney for many years practicing primarily in civil litigation. He received his Bachelor of Social Work from Valparaiso University and Juris Doctor from Valparaiso University School of Law.
Grayce Slobodian
Grayce is a futurist and storyteller who is well-versed in human-centered research, communications, service design, organizational development, and foresight. Grayce holds a Master of Design in Strategic Foresight and Innovation from OCAD University and has previously worked in the healthcare sector, creative industries, local governance, and post-secondary education in North and South America. With her skillset, Grayce explores how to create new opportunities for communities while working to understand and prepare for possible futures.
Terry Grim
Terry’s focus is foresight methodology and implementation of good foresight practices. As the author of Foresight Maturity Model (FMM): Achieving Best Practices in the Foresight Field, she is able to integrate her dual passions of the foresight discipline with organizational change. Skilled in working collaboratively with clients, facilitation, teaching, and strategic planning, she is to help organizations learn and achieve a level of foresight maturity. Terry’s prior experience includes senior positions at IBM as a member of the space program software development team, international management, and corporate strategy. Terry has taught in the University of Houston’s Studies of the Futures Master’s degree program for over 10 years. Terry has a BS in Computer Science from the University of Florida, and an MS in Studies of the Future and MA in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, both from the University of Houston. She is also a founding member of the Association of Professional Futurists (APF) and has served as a member of their board.
Monica Porteanu
Monica Porteanu is a strategy and AI consultant, mother, futurist, design thinker, sound researcher, mentor, and life-long learner. Monica recently completed her PhD, investigating through a futurist’s eyes how an AI “hears.” Her aim is to shape things that inspire and drive freedom, hope, democracy, and action, examining ways in which broken societies can heal themselves.
Jan Klakurka
Jan Klakurka is an Associate Professor and past Chair (2015-2021) in Management and Organizational Studies at Huron University, founding college of Western University and long-standing instructor within the strategy department at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. With over twenty-five years of professional experience in industry and management consulting, Jan advises C-Level executives and executing on the ground and has served organizations across private and public sectors through his practice, Elevae Strategic Advisory. Jan’s research is directed toward the intersection of strategic planning, lucid foresight and futures studies for management, with interests in corporate sustainability, effectiveness of governance, ethical corporate development, and holistic implementation of innovation.
Graduated from the Houston Foresight program in 2007. He is one of many futurists who arrived at Houston mid-career in a different field, and added a futures capability to his existing body of expertise. Lee, who is a frequent keynote speaker on trends and cycles, and has been quoted by The Wall Street Journal and U.S. News and World Report, is the founder of StratFI, a boutique investment firm with a strategic foresight advantage. He is the author of Resilience and the Future of Everyday Life (2012), and his new book, Foresight Investing: A Complete Guide to Finding Your Next Great Trade, was released in March 2021.
Jim Lee
Josh Calder has over 20 years experience helping organizations—from intelligence agencies to consumer goods companies—understand and shape their futures. He tracks social, economic, technological, and political change to reveal the future systems within which clients will operate. Josh developed the Global Lifestyles project at Social Technologies, guiding the creation of hundreds of reports, with particular attention to emerging markets. He has studied over-the-horizon security issues and evolving socioeconomic trends for government clients, and presented on transparency and geopolitics at the Army War College. He is now a partner at Foresight Alliance. Josh has analyzed some 450 films as part of his ongoing Futurist at the Movies project.
Josh Calder
Cherie Minniecon
Cherie Minniecon is passionate about Indigenous futures and futurisms and developing futures approaches that do not rely heavily on hope as an activator for agency. Instead drawing on Indigenous sovereignty. Cherie is drawn to the spaces that cultivate creativity, connection, play and joy, bringing moments of respite from the structural violence of the present. Cherie is always inspired by the powerful ways in which futurity is being activated in everyday spaces and loves scanning for signals of change and their possible implications. Cherie has worked internationally and locally in Australia on social change projects. She is educated in both social work and futures studies.
Daniel Pesut
Innovative Nurse Educator, Academic Career Coach, Author, Keynote Speaker, Organizational Consultant, Futurist, Trusted Advisor. Skilled in helping people create desired futures with creativity, innovation, and foresight. Committed to the future of nursing and health care through development of foresight leadership. Influencing and educating next generation health care leaders to reason with critical, creative, complexity, strategic, systems, and integral thinking skills.