research on futures
Academia next
Bryan Alexander. (2020) Academia Next. JHU Press.
The outlook for the future of colleges and universities is uncertain. Financial stresses, changing student populations, and rapidly developing technologies all pose significant challenges to the nation's colleges and universities. In Academia Next, futurist and higher education expert Bryan Alexander addresses these evolving trends to better understand higher education's next generation.
american council on education report on Unlocking Education and Workforce Opportunity Through Block
Kerri Lemoie and Louis Soares . (2020)
This report reflects the culmination of the first phase of a two-year initiative focused on exploring both the opportunities and the risks of utilizing blockchain to translate skills and educational experiences into a language that individuals—and employers—can use.
https://www.acenet.edu/Documents/ACE-Education-Blockchain-Initiative-Connected-Impact-June2020.pdf
Anticipatory Futures and Education
Sarah Amsler & Keri Facer (2016). Contesting anticipatory regimes in education: exploring alternative educational orientations to the future. Futures, 94 (Sept.), 6-14.
asia 2038 - Sohail Inayatullah and Lu Na
Sohail Inayatullah & Lu Na (2018). Asia 2038: Ten Disruptions that Change Everything. Graduate Institute of Futures Studies, Tamkang University, Tamsui.
Using insights from hundreds of foresight workshops in Asia, ASIA 2038: Ten Disruptions That Change Everything explores ten key disruptive emerging issues. Along with an analysis of these disruptions, stories are used to illustrate these new futures. Inayatullah and Lu Na argue that Asia is in the midst of a major and foundational shift. The shift is not only related to the spheres of economy, technology and geo-politics; equally important are current and coming social and cultural changes.
https://www.metafuture.org/2015/04/12/new-book-asia-2038-2018/
blockchain learning
Kate Westrich (2016). Learning on the Block: Could Smart Transactional Models Help Power Personalized Learning? KnowledgeWorks Forecast.
Learning on the Block considers possible impacts blockchain and smart contracts could have on the future of learning. The paper considers both cultural and technology trends to explore four possible scenarios reflecting how blockchain might or might not enable new avenues for personalized learning.
foresight guide
“This online book is the most comprehensive intro to general futures thinking and professional foresight practice available on the web. Our Aim: To be the best Big Picture Guide to 21st Century Foresight. Championing exponential, evo devo, and evidence-based thinking.”
Futures Studies - jim dator, Editor
Focus Issue of World Futures Review containing four essays by Andy Hines, coordinator of the Foresight program at the University of Houston, Texas, USA; by Matti Minkkinen of the Finland Futures Research Centre, University of Turku, Finland; by Richard Slaughter, a former President of the World Futures Studies Federation, and Director, Foresight International, Queensland, Australia; and by Sohail Inayatullah, Professor, Tamkang University, Graduate Institute of Futures Studies, Taipei, Taiwan.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1946756719891465
healthcare foresight futures
Health care futures are typified by a convergence of drivers or megatrends that are rapidly shaping health care futures. Megatrends are defined as the great forces in human and technology development that affect the future in all areas of human activity, in a horizon of ten to fifteen years. We should also recognise that none of these drivers and megatrends in and of themselves will shape a foreseeable future. Rather, it is suggested that a convergence of drivers, needs and wants both in and outside of health care will result in health care futures that are discontinuous with current trajectories. There is a significant increase in the scope of possibilities for health care futures – health care provision is no longer linear and continuous, predictable or immune from disruptive change.
Millennium project study on future of workforce & technology
Glenn, J. (2020). Work/Technology 2050: Scenarios and actions. Millennium Project.
This international long‑range study includes three detailed scenarios to 2050 and assessments of 93 actions. The actions are the results of 30 national workshops in 20 countries. The purpose of these workshops was to identify strategies to address the issues raised in the scenarios. These actions were assessed by five international surveys (one each for government and governance, business and labor, education and learning, arts and media, and the S&T communities) as to their feasibility to avoid the looming disasters forecast by others and how to change the world for the better.
http://www.millennium-project.org/projects/workshops-on-future-of-worktechnology-2050-scenarios/
Social Time as a Multidimensional Category
Roberto Poli. (2016). Social Time as a Multidimensional Category. World Futures Review, 9 (1), 19-25 (Dec).
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1946756716678414
strategic foresight and the future of rural healthcare
This article uses a strategic foresight tool, megatrends, to examine forces influencing long-term healthcare staffing in the rural United States. Two megatrends-exponential advances in science and technology and the continued evolution of the decentralized global marketplace-will influence and ultimately help shape the future of rural healthcare. Successful health ecosystems of the future will need to be customer-driven, more affordable, and tech-savvy. Successful evolution in an era of continuous change will require a blend of intentional engagement with stakeholders, strategic foresight, and future-focused leadership. More research is needed to fully understand not only the challenges of rural healthcare but also the emerging opportunities.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29642092
transforming the future: anticipation in the 21st century
Riel Miller. (2017). UNESCO.
This book presents the results of significant research undertaken by UNESCO with a number of partners to detect and define the theory and practice of anticipa-tion around the world today. It uses the concept of ‘Futures Literacy’ as a tool to define the understanding of anticipatory systems and processes – also known as the Discipline of Anticipation.
foresight
Bryan Alexander Educational Futures Website
Bryan Alexander is an internationally known futurist, researcher, writer, speaker, consultant, and teacher, working in the field of how technology transforms education.
foresight training
Jay Gary - Foresight Training: Moving from Design to Evaluation
The futures field has witnessed a rise in foresight training for government and business leaders. How should participants judge the quality of foresight training they receive? This article reviews the history of foresight training and explains why it is incomplete without evaluation. To conclude, practical steps are offered that foresight firms can take to upgrade their training impact through continuous improvement, based on the Kirkpatrick Training Evaluation Model.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1946756719851524
the futures school
In Strategic Foresight, practitioners study how to proactively plan and create the future. Traditionally, it is a highly theoretical discipline. The Futures School™ takes the theory and makes it actionable. The Futures School attendees leverage a practical Strategic Foresight framework called Natural Foresight® – a tangible and replicable process that enables you to act strategically today for a successful tomorrow.
horizons foresight method
Peter Padbury. (2020). An overview of the Horizons Foresight Method. World Futures Review (Feb. 6).
https://doi.org/10.1177/1946756719896007
narrative foresight
Milojević, I., & Inayatullah, S. (2015). Narrative foresight. Futures, 73, 151-162.
Narrative foresight focuses on the stories individuals, organizations, states and civilizations tell themselves about the future. Narrative foresight moves futures thinking from a focus on new technologies and generally to the question of what’s next, to an exploration of the worldviews and myths that underlie possible, probable and preferred futures.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016328715001160
Social Foresight
Roberto Poli. (2015). Social Foresight. On the Horizon. (May)
The purpose of this paper is to present the three guiding ideas of the social foresight course, namely, the difference between abstract and concrete futures (i.e. the difference between risk and uncertainty); the three levels of futures studies (forecast, foresight and anticipation); and an overview of the early signs of the incipient shift of human and social sciences from their so-far predominant past-orientation to a new, still unfolding, future-orientation.
teaching about the future
Peter Biship & Andy Hines (2012). Teaching about the Future. Palgrave MacMillan.
The faculty at the University of Houston's program in Futures Studies share their comprehensive, integrated approach to preparing foresight professionals and assisting others doing foresight projects. Provides an essential guide to developing classes on the future or even establishing whole degree programs.
https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9780230363496
Scenarios
FORESIGHT FUTURES SCENARIOS
Frans Berkhout & Julia Hurtin. (2002). Foresight futures scenarios: Developing and applying a participative strategic planning tool. Greener Management International (37):37-52.
DOI: 10.9774/GLEAF.3062.2002.sp.00005
This paper presents the Foresight Futures, a participative planning tool developed by SPRU—Science and Technology Policy Research for the UK Foresight Programme. It describes the process of developing the scenario framework, sets out the key dimensions and basic storylines and summarises different ways in which the Foresight Futures have been applied by government, researchers and industry. Focusing on practical ways of using the scenarios, the final part of the paper provides guidance on their use and discusses the potential of the approach.
scenarios for resilient leaders
Andrew Blau, Gopi Billa, Phllipp Willigmann (2020). The world remade by COVID-19: Scenarios for resilient leaders 3-5 years. Deloitt.
As the COVID-19 pandemic began to sweep across the globe, some of the world’s best-known scenario thinkers came together to explore different ways the unfolding crisis might play out – and what its effects could be on businesses and societies around the world.
shaping Tomorrow
World's first completely digitized, strategic foresight and collaborative response system
We are delighted to launch the world's first completely digitized, strategic foresight and collaborative response system in Shaping Tomorrow's 18th birthday week. Our robot, Athena, can now publish full foresight reports on any topic in minutes, without human intervention, and facilitate collaborative workshops in hours, rather than the months required by traditional projects. All at market leading prices and with many more free services.
other key references
Additional Information
Brown, J. S. (2000). Growing up: Digital: How the web changes work, education, and the ways people learn. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 32(2), 11-20.
Diamandis, P. & Kotler, S. (2012). Abundance: The future is better than you think.Free Press.
Diamandis, P. & Kotler, S. (2020). The future is faster than you think: How converging technologies are transforming business, industries, and our lives. Simon & Schuster.
Inayatullah, S. (2008). Six pillars: Futures thinking for transforming. Foresight, 10(1), 4-21.
Miller, R. (Ed.) (2017). Transforming the future: Anticipation in the 21stcentury. Routledge.
Miller, R. (2011). Futures literacy: Embracing complexity and using the future. Ethos, 10(10), 23-28.
Miller, R. (2007). Futures Literacy: A Hybrid Strategic Scenario Method. Futures, 39(4), 341–362.
Miller, R. & Poli, R. (2010). Anticipatory systems and the philosophical foundations of futures studies. Foresight, 12(3), 7-17.
Miller, R., Poli, R. Rossel, P. (2017). The discipline of anticipation: Foundations for futures literacy. In R. Miller (Ed.), (2017), Transforming the future: Anticipation in the 21st century. Routledge, 51-65.
Naden, M. (2010). Anticipation: Annotated bibliography. International Journal of General Systems, 39(1), 35-133.
Olsen, D.S. (2016) Adult learning in innovative organisations. European Journal of Education, Vol. 51(2), DOI: 10.1111/ejed.12170.
Poli, R. (Ed.) (2017). Handbook of anticipation: Theoretical and applied aspects of the use of the future in decision making. Cham: Spring Publishing.
Ramos, J. M. (2017). Linking Foresight and Action: Toward a Futures Action Research. In Rowell, L.L.; Bruch, C.D.; Shosh, J. M., & Riel, M.M. The Palgrave International Handbook of Action Research, Palgrave MacMillan, New York, 823-842 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-40523-4. ISBN 978-1-137- 40523-4 https://actionforesight.net/linking-foresight-and-action-3/
Robinson, M. (2018). Climate justice: Hope, resilience and the fight for sustainability. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Smyre, R. & Richardson, N. (2016). Preparing for a world that does not exist – yet. Changemakers Books.
Ubalijoro, É. (2017). Learning in global collaborations for impact and innovation. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 156, 53-63.
futures studies references
based on a list from wfsf
See World Futures Studies Federation ( https://wfsf.org/about-us/futures-studies )
- Bell, W. (1997/2003). Foundations of Futures Studies I: History, Purposes, Knowledge. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
- Bell, W. (1997/2004). Foundations of Futures Studies II: Values, Objectivity and the Good Society. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
- Galtung, J. (1982). Schooling, Education and the Future (Vol. 61). Malmo, Sweden: Department of Education and Psychology Research, Lund University.
- Gidley, J., Bateman, D., & Smith, C. (2004). Futures in Education: Principles, Practice and Potential. Melbourne: Australian Foresight Institute.
- Gidley, J. M., Fien, J., Smith, J-A., Thomsen, D. C., and Smith, T. F. (2009) Participatory Futures Methods: Towards Adaptability and Resilience in Climate-Vulnerable Communities, Environmental Policy and Governance, 19(6) pp. 427-440.
- Gidley, J.M. (2013) Global Knowledge Futures: Articulating the Emergence of a new Meta-level Field Integral Review: A Transdisciplinary and Transcultural Journal for New Thought, Research and Praxis. 9(2) pp. 145-172.
- Gidley, J.M. (2017) The Future: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press)
- Inayatullah, S. (1990). Deconstructing and reconstructing the future: Predictive, cultural and critical epistemologies. Futures, 22(2), 115-141.
- Masini, E. (1993). Why Future Studies? London: Grey Seal.
- Slaughter, R. (1999). Professional standards in futures work, Futures, 31, p. 840
- Slaughter, R. (2003). Integral Futures - a New Model for Futures Enquiry and Practice. Melbourne: Australian Foresight Institute.
- Slaughter, R. (2008). What difference does integral make? Futures, 40, 120-137.
- Tapio, P. & Hietanen, O. (2002). Epistemology and public policy: using a new typology to analyse the paradigm shift in Finnish transport futures studies. Futures, 34, 597-620.
