Introducing the Future Makers’ international advisory group

In January 2021 we will publish an open access workshop method that combines futures thinking and change making skills. We will also run facilitator trainings during Spring 2021 (most of which will be in Finnish). The methodology is designed to be used by people who are in developer positions in non-governmental-organisations (NGOs), the public sector (especially municipalities and cities) and adult education institutions. The methodology will be well suited for people working in the private sector who want to increase the agency of individuals and organisations as change makers.”

There is interesting work being done by many international experts in this field. We have wanted to learn from the best and we have invited four distinguished experts to join the Future Makers’ international advisory group. The group has met virtually during 2020.

Laurie Smith, UK

Laurie works as a principal researcher at Nesta’s explorations team. Nesta is an innovation foundation located in the UK. Laurie undertakes experimental work in new fields and focuses on future methods at Nesta. Recently, Laurie has been kept busy with a participatory futures project. “As the world struggles with increased complexity and uncertainty, we believe that the process of systematically imagining alternative, sustainable futures should be conducted in a more democratic and inclusive manner,” Laurie and his colleague Katy Peach write. They have written the guide Our futures: by the people, for the people. How mass involvement in shaping the future can solve complex problems.

Pupul Bisht, India

Pupul is a multi-disciplinary foresight practitioner and the Winner of the Joseph Jaworski Next Generation Foresight Practitioners Award 2018. Her practice is rooted in human-centred insights and lies at the intersection of futures thinking, systems design, and participatory research. She also works at the School of International Futures (SOIF).

She founded the Decolonizing Futures Initiative in 2018 — a global project that aims to engage marginalised communities in imagining their preferred futures to inform and inspire inclusive decision-making. Through this initiative, Pupul is pioneering the use of her novel foresight method inspired by the Kaavad folk-storytelling tradition of Rajasthan, India — one of the first and only foresight methods directly derived from a non-western tradition.

Krizna Gomez, Philippines / Netherlands

Krizna is the former Director of Programs and lead facilitator at JustLabs and has recently started as an entrepreneur. She started her career as a human rights lawyer and has done exciting work in the humanitarian and NGO world with foresight and futures thinking. She is also the winner of Joseph Jaworski Next Generation Foresight Practitioners Award (Humanitarian Special Award) from the School of International Futures for her project establishing a Change School for the future Greta Thunberg’s of the world.

Keri Facer, Sweden/ UK

Keri is a Zennström Chair in Climate Change Leadership at Uppsala University. She is also Professor of Educational and Social Futures at University of Bristol. Keri’s work concerns education, learning, futures thinking and climate change. She is the author of such books as Learning Futures: Education, Technology and Social Change and Valuing Interdisciplinary Collaborative Research: Beyond Impact. Recently she has been involved in a project on environmental communication in Sweden.