Welcome to an episode where we explore Haya Al-Noaimi's compelling article, 'Feminist Futures as Unthought Futures,' published in the Journal of Futures Studies. This discussion critically examines the tension between dominant neoliberal future visions in the Gulf states and the urgent need for feminist, human-centered approaches through education.

In this episode, we'll delve into:

• Al-Noaimi's argument that feminist futures extend beyond gender equality to encompass a vital project of decolonizing the future.
• The anti-feminist nature of neoliberalism, particularly in postcolonial contexts like the Arab Gulf, as it prioritizes market logic, privatization, and individualism over human and ecological well-being.
• How feminist pedagogies, exemplified by a 'Gulf Futures' course, empower students to critically engage with prevailing narratives, challenge patriarchal structures, and envision alternative, equitable futures.
• The influence of Ivana Milojević's work on defining feminism and guiding the critique and envisioning of post-patriarchal futures.
• The role of artistic visions, like Sophia Al-Maria's 'The Future was Desert,' in contrasting official narratives of progress and highlighting the 'weight of the past'.

Join us to understand how this article advocates for cultivating a collective future that is inclusive, equitable, and champions marginalized voices in decolonizing our imaginations and societal structures.

Ref:

Haya Al-Noaimi. (n.d.). Feminist Futures as Unthought Futures. Journal of Futures Studies. https://doi.org/10.6531/JFS.202503_29(3).0002

Welcome to a episode where we explore Nur Anisah Abdullah's groundbreaking research paper, 'Feminizing Futures,' published in the Journal of Futures Studies. This essential work dives deep into how contemporary futurists define and integrate feminism into their professional practice.

In this discussion, we'll uncover:

• The diverse perspectives of eleven futurists on what feminism means to them and why they embrace it, responding to Ivana Milojević's "The Hesitant Feminist's Guide to the Future".
• Their critiques of patriarchal systems and the drive for a more holistic, systemic change that extends beyond traditional gender issues to include cultural recognition and the dismantling of oppressive structures.
• The challenges these futurists face, addressing individual, societal, and systemic barriers such as exclusion, marginalisation, systemic inequality, and the dominance of traditional perspectives. We'll also examine how these challenges are understood through Causal Layered Analysis (CLA), identifying associated systemic causes like patriarchy, Western-centric narratives, and capitalist worldviews.
• Transformative visions for the future, illuminated by powerful metaphors that describe both current realities—such as "Echo Chamber of Dominant Voices" and "The Walled Garden"—and aspirations for change, including "Listening Wildflower Beds" and "Handing Over The Compass".

Tune in to understand how 'Feminizing Futures' marks a crucial dialogue between feminism and futures studies, advocating for a more inclusive, equitable, and compassionate future that prioritizes diverse voices and systemic transformation.

Ref:

Nur Anisah Abdullah. (n.d.). Feminizing Futures. Journal of Futures Studies. https://doi.org/10.6531/JFS.202503_29(3).0006

"Dive into the Futures Telescope, an innovative framework for futures thinking that challenges traditional linear views of the future. This podcast explores how the Futures Telescope moves beyond static predictions by merging structured foresight with subjective perspectives.

Discover how this dynamic tool, built on complexity theory, helps practitioners explore multiple futures by actively adjusting for personal biases—referred to as the "ocular lens"—and cultural paradigms—the "cultural lens". We'll discuss its iterative methodology, designed to foster collective sense-making and enable the co-creation of adaptive, pluralistic futures.

Learn how the Futures Telescope helps navigate the "thick present" and the vast "space of possibilities". We'll also touch upon its unique approach that contrasts with the more rigid Futures Cone model and how it offers a path towards Protopia—a vision of steady, ongoing improvements rather than a fixed Utopia. Join us to understand how the Futures Telescope makes futures thinking more flexible, inclusive, and actionable for everyone, whether you're a seasoned futures practitioner or new to the field."

Ref:

Casado, E. T. (2025). The Futures Telescope: A Dynamic Tool for Exploring The Space of Possibilities. Journal of Futures Studies. https://doi.org/10.6531/JFS.202506_29(4).0005

Welcome to Futures Research Unpacked! This episode dives into the crucial, yet often overlooked, role of domain mapping within strategic foresight. We unpack a unique research paper that empirically evaluates domain mapping's utility by analyzing years of exercises with Canadian public servants.

Discover how domain mapping serves as a prerequisite for robust foresight, helping to conceptually frame complex topics like the future of diplomacy and international affairs. The research highlights the fascinating concept of 'thematic shifting' – how experts' perceptions evolve over time regarding key areas such as technology, values, economics, public health, and national security.

Plus, gain valuable insights on facilitating effective domain mapping workshops, considering the vital importance of representation, group dynamics, and data quality. This discussion illustrates how domain mapping provides a crucial snapshot of current realities and evolving perspectives, animating all subsequent foresight processes.

Ref:

Wilner, A., & Stein, T. (2025). Revisiting the Use and Utility of Domain Mapping: A Comparative Study of the Future(s) of Diplomacy and International Affairs. FUTURES & FORESIGHT SCIENCE, 7(1), e70006. https://doi.org/10.1002/ffo2.70006

Join us for an insightful discussion on "Collective Sensemaking and Reframing in Futures Thinking Engagements: Lessons From a Responsible Futuring Learning Trajectory". This episode delves into how the Responsible Futuringapproach, a design-oriented method, facilitates collective sensemaking and reframing to foster futures thinking.

We'll explore the paper's findings from a 4-day learning trajectory with professionals navigating digital transformations. Discover how Responsible Futuring organizes learning through four cognitive and experiential levels: understanding values, imagining, tangibilizing, and introspecting. We'll also break down its five sequential phases, from Articulating the Challenge to Reflecting and Reframing.

A key takeaway from the research is the observed tendency towards solutionism among participants, where they prematurely focused on specific solutions rather than exploring broader, values-driven futures. We'll discuss this challenge, along with others such as the risk of extreme future visions and the difficulty of grounding abstract principles in everyday realities. Finally, we'll cover the paper's critical recommendations, including the need for iterative guidance, careful zooming processes to manage actor inclusion/exclusion, and clearer goals for speculative activities to enhance relevance. Tune in to understand how these insights can inform future-oriented activities in lifelong learning!

Ref:

Matos‐Castaño, J., Huinink, M., Zaga, C., & Van Der Voort, M. (2025). Collective Sensemaking and Reframing in Futures Thinking Engagements: Lessons From a Responsible Futuring Learning Trajectory. FUTURES & FORESIGHT SCIENCE, 7(1), e70002. https://doi.org/10.1002/ffo2.70002

Join us for an insightful discussion as we unpack the research paper "Avoiding Nightmare Forests: Insights From a Co‐Creative Workshop". This episode explores the critical challenges facing Nordic forests, including climate change, biodiversity loss, and the balance required for a sustainable forest-based bioeconomy.

We delve into a unique methodology: a co-creative workshop using a backcasting approach where research scholars were tasked with imagining undesirable, "nightmarish" future scenarios for Nordic forests. The goal was to identify what futures to avoid and then develop strategies to counteract them.

Discover the key fears expressed by participants, such as:

• An adverse intensive forestry scenario leading to loss of biodiversity, no timber supply, and increased pressure from environmentalists putting all forests under protection.
• Scenarios of damaged forests and landscapes, invasive species and diseases, and the mass extinction of forest-dependent species.

Crucially, the episode highlights the workshop's key findings, revealing that despite these fears, participants largely agreed on the importance of multifunctionality and the delivery of multiple ecosystem services as vital for the future sustainability of Nordic forests. We'll discuss the risk-mitigation strategies proposed by the scholars, which include:

• Adopting hybrid forest management approaches to preserve high-value biodiversity.
• Implementing precautionary measures in forestry decisions.
• Prohibiting practices like monocultures, clear-cutting, and peat mining.
• Promoting diverse tree species composition and continuous cover forest management.
• Emphasizing active engagement in governance through deliberative and participatory decision-making processes.

Tune in to learn how imagining a "nightmare" future can be a powerful tool for creating a shared vision and identifying concrete actions to steer Nordic forests towards a more resilient and sustainable path.

Ref:

Nebasifu, A., Ekström, H., Iliev, B., Pihlainen, S., Linser, S., Polo‐Villanueva, F. D., Viljanen, A., Charlier, M., Rahman, Md. R., Niedzialkowski, K., Kuhlman, J., Assmuth, A., Garfield, D., D’Amato, D., & Droste, N. (2025). Avoiding Nightmare Forests: Insights From a Co‐Creative Workshop. FUTURES & FORESIGHT SCIENCE, 7(2), e70010. https://doi.org/10.1002/ffo2.70010

Unpacking Participatory Methods in Corporate Foresight

Join us as we dive into a critical systematic literature review by Delhaes, Vieira, Pimenta, and Oliveira that examines participatory methods in Corporate Foresight (CF) case studies published between 2003 and 2023.

Despite case studies being essential for generating insights into CF research and demonstrating foresight approaches in practical contexts, the authors reveal significant challenges and gaps in how these studies are documented.

In this episode, we'll explore:

• The landscape of Corporate Foresight: Where CF case studies are applied across diverse industries, particularly in technology-focused sectors like ICT and Automotive, and how they primarily support strategic and technology development decisions within companies.
• The surprising lack of innovation: Discover how the application of participatory methods is often limited to traditional setups, with workshops and interviews being the most frequently used methods, and a notable absence of emerging technologies like advanced data analytics or AI.
• Critical documentation gaps: We'll highlight the paper's key finding that few case studies comprehensively describe their participatory component, making it difficult to understand their design, implementation, and replicability. This often stems from a focus on sharing "best practices" rather than rigorous scientific reporting.
• The solution: PMDT: Learn about the Participatory Methods Documentation Taxonomy (PMDT), a practical guideline proposed by the authors to help researchers and practitioners better document participatory methods, enhancing transparency, replicability, and learning from future CF case studies.

Tune in to understand the state of participatory methods in Corporate Foresight research and how improved documentation can lead to more insightful and verifiable studies.

Ref:

Delhaes, J. M., Vieira, A. C. L., Pimenta, J. F., & Oliveira, M. D. (2025). Participatory Methods in Corporate Foresight: A Systematic Literature Review of Case Studies and Guidelines for Reporting. FUTURES & FORESIGHT SCIENCE, 7(2), e70011. https://doi.org/10.1002/ffo2.70011

Unveiling Decolonial Futures: Empowering BIWOC in the Amazon

Join us as we dive into a groundbreaking research paper that explores decolonial and participatory approaches to envision equitable transformations toward sustainability in the Amazon. This episode highlights a collaborative effort with 20 Black, Indigenous, and other Women of Color (BIWOC) in Colombia's Putumayo department, who are actively fighting against the exploitation of nature.

Discover how researchers and BIWOC co-created a "safe enough" border space to challenge dominant Euro-Western perspectives and foster epistemic equity. We'll discuss their innovative methodology, which combines participatory scenario-building, storytelling, and Causal Layered Analysis (CLA).

Learn how this research unpacked the causes of inequity and degradation, leading to the development of three radical future visions for the Amazon: "The Amazonian Desert," "A New Age," and "The Revenge of Coca". We'll also explore the emancipation pathways for BIWOC embedded within these narratives, showcasing the power of local voices and endogenous discourses, such as the Nasa people's worldview, the Afro-descendant vivir sabroso philosophy, and Zapatista autonomy principles.

This discussion emphasizes the crucial role of diverse worldviews and decolonial praxis in shaping genuinely equitable and sustainable futures, demonstrating a powerful methodological approach to include marginalized perspectives in sustainability agendas.

REF:

Sánchez-García, P. A., Schröter, B., Krause, T., Merrie, A. S., Pereira, L., Nielsen, J. Ø., & Loft, L. (2025). A decolonial and participatory research approach to envision equitable transformations toward sustainability in the Amazon. Futures, 172, 103638. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2025.103638

Rethink entrepreneurship for the Anthropocene! In today's podcast delves into Lauri Laine's paper, "Entrepreneurship as an Object of Hope: Affirmative Critique in the Anthropocene," a bold exploration of how our human-centric views of innovation might be failing our planet.

We challenge the traditional focus on human agency in both mainstream and critical entrepreneurship studies, examining why the idea of 'saving the world' through human-led ventures could be a "harmful hope". The paper argues that if the Anthropocene is a manifestation of human agency's hegemony and destructivity towards the Earth, it becomes urgent to affirm the entrepreneurial agency of nonhuman beings. Critical Entrepreneurship Studies (CES) traditionally emphasizes human agency to unlock alternative futures, but in the Anthropocene, this conviction might be part of the problem, given the materialization of human hopes as toxic layers, global warming, and mass extinction.

Instead, we explore the paper's radical call for more-than-human entrepreneurship, drawing on "end-of-the-world" theorizing and object-oriented ontology. The "end of the world" here refers not to a future collapse, but the impossibility of peaceful harmony between humans and nature, suggesting the drama has already completed. Object-oriented ontology, particularly from Graham Harman, provides a baseline for affirming what exists beyond the human, proposing that ontological change involves all kinds of objects and that humans are not ontologically special.

Discover how acknowledging the irreversible impact of human activity can shift our focus from what 'could be' to what 'is,' affirming the entrepreneurial agency of nonhuman beings and even the Earth itself. This includes viewing entrepreneurship through a "ruin optic" where deorganization creates possibilities for new organization, focusing on survival rather than profit. It also involves a "temporally scaled" perspective, recognizing that nonhuman entrepreneurial agency might operate on scales ungraspable by human time.

This episode will transform your understanding of how organization creation can foster coexistence rather than perpetuate anthropocentric dominance. Tune in to explore a truly 'different' future for entrepreneurship, embracing a nonanthropocentric and posthumanist understanding that extends solidarity across life forms.

Ref:

Laine, L. (2024). Entrepreneurship as an Object of Hope: Affirmative Critique in the Anthropocene. SSRN. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4937267

Welcome to our podcast!

This episode is inspired by the paper, "Creating local storylines for climate mitigation and adaptation with policymakers across Europe: a new participatory and bottom-up method". We explore a novel, bottom-up methodology designed to help cities and regions address the urgent, yet deeply local, impacts of climate change.

Join us as we unpack:

• The critical need for context-dependent climate policies that account for local needs and priorities, moving beyond global frameworks.
• How this innovative methodology uses "what-if" questions and a structured Scope-Actions-Actors-Sectors (SAAS) framework to transform policymakers' visions into actionable climate storylines by 2050.
• The revealing insights from its application with policymakers across four diverse European case studies (Norrbotten, Trentino, Tulcea, Sitia), showcasing significant differences in their priorities for mitigation vs. adaptation, chosen policy actions, key actors, and impacted economic sectors.
• How this approach bridges local and scientific knowledge, fostering creativity, agency, and a strong sense of ownership among stakeholders in co-creating desirable, policy-relevant futures.

Ref:

López-Muñoz, P., Llases, L., Lauer, A., & Mencarini, E. (2025). Creating local storylines for climate mitigation and adaptation with policymakers across Europe: A new participatory and bottom-up method. Futures, 171, 103617. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2025.103617

Welcome to our podcast, where we delve into the transformative future of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in government services. Based on the insightful research paper, "The future of AI in government services and global risks: insights from design fictions", this discussion explores speculative scenariosto anticipate AI's profound impacts by 2050.

Join us as we uncover three critical dilemmas highlighted in the research:

• AI's dual role: How it can enhance efficiency while simultaneously exacerbating concerns around algorithmic bias and surveillance.
• Human displacement: The potential for AI to displace human roles in public services, raising significant questions about accountability and transparency.
• Ethical trade-offs: The complex ethical choices inherent in AI-driven decision-making, particularly in sensitive areas such as law enforcement, healthcare, and education.

We'll examine how AI presents a "dual-edged sword", capable of both mitigating and accentuating global risks depending on its development and application. This episode aims to stimulate crucial dialogues for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers, fostering critical reflection on the socio-technical impacts of AI and its role in reshaping public services and citizen engagement. Tune in to explore these vital considerations for an ethically and socially just AI-driven future.

Ref:

Nascimento, P. V. M., De Siqueira, P. B. B., Chrispim, N., Chaves, R. M., Barbosa, C. E., & De Souza, J. M. (2025). The future of AI in government services and global risks: Insights from design fictions. European Journal of Futures Research, 13(1), 9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40309-025-00253-9

Unlocking Tomorrow: The Metalogic Futures Model for Radical Change

Are you ready to move beyond "business as usual" and truly transform your organization or community? In this episode, we explore the groundbreaking "metalogic futures model". Developed by Fleener, Vojnovich, and Berardinelli, this framework offers a powerful approach to navigating our complex, "postnormal times"—a world grappling with global warming, conflict, and the rise of AI.

This isn't just about predicting the future; it's about actively creating transformational change. The model is built on three crucial pillars:

• The Metalogic Process: Drawing from Gregory Bateson's concept, this is a "recursive process" designed to challenge existing paradigms and "dormitive thinking". It's not a rigid method but a "meta-strategy" that balances structure and openness, encouraging "complicated conversations" where dissent and paradox are welcome to foster true innovation and emergent ideas.
• Futures Literacy (FL): The model directly supports the development of FL, which is the crucial ability to use the future in the present. It helps us understand that the future isn't merely an extension of today, requiring different ways of thinking and strategy.
• Transformational Learning Theory: Incorporating adult learning scholarship, the model addresses deep, "irreversible changes" across six dimensions: worldview, identity, epistemology (how knowledge is constructed), ontology (how one exists in the world), behavior, and capacity. These changes must have depth, breadth, and stability to be truly transformative.

The "metalogic futures model" also accounts for Inayatullah's Futures Typology, recognizing different levels of "readiness" to engage with the future. From those who want to "recreate the castle" (Tomorrow 1) to those seeking "a new kind of kingdom" (Tomorrow 3), the framework provides a "scaffold" for engaging diverse perspectives and fostering conversations that push beyond risk mitigation to genuinely "create new visions" for possibilities. It emphasizes the importance of diverse voices, sustained recursive conversations, and creating "protected spaces for innovation" to support radical change.

Join us to learn how this framework can guide efforts for radical organizational and social transformation, helping us address the "unknown unknowns" and shape a more sustainable future for individuals, organizations, and society. We'll even touch on real-world examples of organizations like Netflix and IBM that have successfully navigated profound transformations.

Ref:

Fleener, M. J., Vojnovich, V., & Berardinelli, P. (2025). The metalogic futures model: A framework for transformational organizational and social change. European Journal of Futures Research, 13(1), 6. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40309-025-00249-5

Welcome to Futures Research Unpacked! In this essential deep dive, we're exploring groundbreaking research from the European Journal of Futures Research: "Sustainable space governance as a key to protect future generations’ rights" by İnan-Şimşek and Atvur.

The paper highlights that safeguarding the interests and rights of future generations is a pressing global concern, intensified by current actions and a focus area for the UN's Pact for the Future. Despite these efforts, protecting future generations' rights, especially in space, has become a "global gridlock" – a growing disparity between the need for global solutions and multilateral institutions' inability to address them.

This study proposes that sustainable space governance is crucial for overcoming this gridlock and addressing complex challenges while protecting these rights. Key areas for sustainable space use and governance include regulating space traffic, mitigating escalating space debris, and ensuring equitable access to space resources.

The research offers a bold vision to overcome this gridlock, synthesizing the UN's essential policy goals for future generations with identified pathways for resolution. This proposed framework includes four critical actions:

• UNCOPUOS serving as the voice of future generations: As the central envoy for global space policies, COPUOS is pivotal for international cooperation and adapting space law, acting as an autonomous and adaptable institution.
• The leadership of the epistemic space community for future generations: Technical groups like COSPAR, ISO, ITU, and WMO are vital for shaping international practices based on ethical values and integrating various agents to transform concerns into concrete space policies.
• Defining binding regulations for responsibilities towards future generations in space exploration and activities: Legally binding agreements are crucial for ensuring intragenerational and intergenerational justice in sustainable space governance, requiring harmonized national regulations and shifts in major powers' interests.
• The creation of an intergovernmental forum: An intergovernmental forum, potentially a Global Space Agency or World Space Organization, is needed to address fragmented space activities and enable nations to retain sovereignty while addressing shared concerns and promoting a systemic transformation for future generations' rights.

Tune in to understand why the acceleration of space activities and the emergence of new actors demand a new system prioritizing a just future for all humanity in the cosmos.

Ref

İnan-Şimşek, A., & Atvur, S. (2025). Sustainable space governance as a key to protect future generations’ rights. European Journal of Futures Research, 13(1), 8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40309-025-00254-8

Curious about the future of foresight? This podcast episode explores the fascinating 24-year evolution of Foresight J, a leading journal in the field. Drawing on a comprehensive bibliometric analysis from 1999 to 2022, we reveal how research themes have shifted from initial focuses on technology and economic growth to cutting-edge areas like Artificial Intelligence, blockchain, and sustainability.

Discover the most impactful authors shaping foresight research, such as Saritas, Blackman, and Richardson, and identify the top contributing countries like the USA, UK, and Australia. We'll highlight the journal's consistent focus on forecasting, scenario planning, strategic planning, and decision-making, and discuss emerging research hotspotsthat will define future studies.

Tune in to gain valuable insights into the dynamics of scholarly communication, understand persistent research interests, and identify new directions for foresight research that can aid policymakers, institutions, and scholars alike.

Ref:

Dhiman, V., & Arora, M. (2024). How foresight has evolved since 1999? Understanding its themes, scope and focus. Foresight, 26(2), 253–271. https://doi.org/10.1108/FS-01-2023-0001

How are European coastal cities preparing for the devastating impacts of climate change by 2050?

In this episode, we delve into a groundbreaking study that uses the Real-Time Spatial Delphi (RTSD) method and a novel web-based platform, the Real-Time Geo-Spatial Consensus System (RT-GSCS), to map out future climate scenarios. Learn how 167 experts from across Europe are pinpointing areas most at risk from coastal erosion, floods, and extreme temperatures. We'll uncover the innovative concept of Asymptotic Theoretical Consensus (ATC), which helps understand the dynamics, duration, and stability of expert agreement, often reaching consensus much faster than traditional methods. 

Discover how these Delphi-based spatial scenarios (DBSS) provide crucial, actionable insights for policymakers and local authorities to formulate effective climate adaptation strategies and prevent 'dystopian scenarios'.

Ref:

Calleo, Y., Pilla, F., & Di Zio, S. (2025). Spatial Scenarios With Real‐Time Spatial Delphi and Asymptotic Consensus Analysis: An Application to Ten European Coastal Cities. FUTURES & FORESIGHT SCIENCE, 7(2), e70013. https://doi.org/10.1002/ffo2.70013

Welcome to "Future Research Unpacked". In this episode, we unpack a **pioneering study investigating how last-mile logistics companies can become intermediaries in access-based consumption**. As e-commerce surges, discover the potential for providers to offer products like **washing machines and home office furniture 'as a service'**.

Based on a **strategic customer foresight study** involving a **quantitative survey of 1,000 Finnish consumers** and an **online focus group** with 10 early adopters, we reveal that **young adults and consumers in early middle age living in the city center are the most receptive user groups**. You'll learn about their **primary motivations: economic reasons and short-term needs**, and why their attitudes towards ownership are surprisingly neutral, often depending on price and frequency of use.

We also delve into the **challenges of translating successful business-to-business service models to consumers**, the **limited consumer interest in certain additional services** like furniture assembly, and the complex relationship consumers perceive between access-based consumption and sustainability. Tune in to understand the **drivers and constraints for consumers engaging in these innovative services** and what it means for the future of logistics and consumption.

Ref

Komonen, P. (2024). Exploring access-based consumption in last-mile logistics: A customer foresight study. Foresight, 26(3), 393–404. https://doi.org/10.1108/FS-09-2023-0175

Step into tomorrow, today! A new wave of 'Museums of the Future' is transforming how we experience possible futures, using immersive virtual and mixed realities to give participants a ‘live experience’ of the future. From Dubai's ambitious gateway to the future to Helsinki's disaster resilience exhibition, these institutions are backed by significant investment and political will, acting as testbeds for powerful immersive content.

But as these compelling, often state and corporate-backed environments proliferate, a crucial question arises: Are they truly empowering public imagination and fostering critical agency, or subtly imposing predetermined visions on an increasingly anxious youth population?

In this podcast, we dive deep into groundbreaking research that proposes a vital, novel conceptual framework for understanding these complex 'sociodigital' spaces. We'll unpack the technological, textual, interventionist, political-economic, and critical pedagogical dimensions of these environments, revealing how they are designed to shape perceptions and experiences of potential futures.

Join us as we explore critical lines of inquiry around their Affordances (how realism affects imagination), Authorship(who shapes these future narratives and why), Audiences (how participants interpret and are affected by these experiences), Accumulation (the economic and political drivers behind their development), and Agency (opportunities for collective action and democratic engagement). Discover why Futures Studies must lead the critical examination of these 'virtual flying carpets and digital disaster rooms' and their profound impact on our collective capacity for futures-making.

Ref:

Pykett, J., Facer, K., Valladares-Celis, C., & Williamson, B. (2025). Virtual flying carpets and digital disaster rooms: Towards a critical analysis of immersive speculative environments in Museums of the Future. Futures, 172, 103643. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2025.103643

Unlock the secrets to thriving in an unpredictable business landscape! In this compelling podcast, we delve into groundbreaking research that empirically links strategic foresight directly to business model innovation (BMI).

Discover how organizations can overcome the inherent challenges and barriers of business model transformation by systematically identifying, observing, and interpreting emerging trends and weak signals of change.

We'll reveal the multifaceted roles of sensemaking and learning, explaining how these critical mechanisms not only sequentially mediate the relationship between strategic foresight and BMI but also enable companies to reconfigure their value creation, proposition, and capture activities.

Tune in to gain actionable insights for managers aiming to optimize BMI efforts, navigate uncertainty, and build long-term competitive advantage in a dynamic environment.

REF:

Moqaddamerad, S., & Ali, M. (2024). Strategic foresight and business model innovation: The sequential mediating role of sensemaking and learning. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 200, 123095. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2023.123095

Unlocking the Future: How Healing Trauma Ignites Foresight

Join us as we explore the groundbreaking concept of "trauma-transformative foresight," a powerful approach integrating trauma healing with futures thinking. Discover how unresolved past traumas can constrain our ability to envision positive futures due to shared brain regions for past and future thinking. Drawing insights from a study with Kenyan youth and the Kumekucha Quest program, we'll reveal how community-led healing fosters a profound shift from "futures unconsciousness" to "futures consciousness" across critical dimensions like agency, optimism, and systems thinking. Learn how this transformation is not just about individual well-being, but essential for realizing long-term developmental outcomes, including the World Health Organization's "Triple Dividend" in health, productivity, and intergenerational well-being. This is a must-listen for anyone interested in empowering marginalized communities and breaking free from "used futures" to create a brighter tomorrow!

In a world grappling with unprecedented uncertainty – from global climate change to emerging pandemics and geopolitical instability – how do we truly prepare for the future? Join us for a deep dive into Éva Hideg's groundbreaking paper, "The Ways of Informatization in Foresight Activities: Informatization in Foresight," which unpacks the new wave in foresight activities.

This episode explores the critical distinction between digitization (converting data to digital form) and informatization(the fundamental societal shift where new info-communicational technologies and AI change how entire fields operate, bringing new possibilities and ways of working). Discover how foresight is being transformed into an online, real-time, and interactive activity, driven by the increasing availability of easily accessible digitized databases and advanced software developments.

We'll examine compelling case studies that exemplify this transformation, from the Millennium Project's Online Real-Time Delphi Questionnaire which allows global experts to participate in exploring future possibilities in virtual space, to interactive climate models like the Java Climate Model (JCM) and International Futures Platform (IFP) that simulate global dynamics and project quantitative futures. We'll also delve into innovative AI-powered platforms such as ChatGPT Foresight Navigator, Scenario Planning GPT, and Frog Design, discussing how they are used as useful research assistants in foresight.

Crucially, we'll also tackle the dangers and challenges of AI in futures practice. While AI offers widespread and rapid content generation for future-oriented mindsets, concerns around transparency, potential cultural biases, privacy violations, and the risk of generating 'false futures' highlight the indispensable role of human evaluation and the need for new competencies among foresight specialists.

Tune in to understand how informatization is revolutionizing foresight, making it more accessible, versatile, and user-friendly, while emphasizing that AI is currently a useful research assistant, requiring human control and facilitationfor purposeful, effective, and ethical engagement with the future.

Ref:

Hideg, É. (2025). The ways of informatization in foresight activities: Informatization in foresight. Journal of Futures Studies, 29(4), 33–45. https://doi.org/10.6531/JFS.202506_29(4).0004