Why take this masterclass?
The future has never been less certain. The climate is changing, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are still rippling through our societies, and technological development continues to accelerate. Many of our institutions are poorly prepared for the future shocks and surprises that are sure to come.
At the same time, the challenge of findings ways to live sustainably and equitably on our finite planet becomes ever more pressing. The world is transforming and most people lack a clear view of what lies ahead.
This course will provide you with a toolkit for engaging with an uncertain future. It will introduce you to innovative methods for exploring possible, probable and preferable futures and making decisions that respond to those futures. It will help you to think more imaginatively about the future so that you are better placed to actively shape the transformations that lie ahead.
What will you learn?
- how to be future literate – key futures concepts and terms
- the four ways to work with the future – forecasting, exploratory foresighting, normative foresighting, anticipation
- how to use key foresighting methods, including horizon scanning, weak signal analysis, the futures triangle, the futures wheel, backcasting, scenario planning, Three Horizons and causal layered analysis
- how to choose method(s) for your particular challenge
- how to move from insights about the future to action in the present.
Who is this course for?
- this course will appeal to anyone engaged in strategic planning or policy development that needs to make assumptions about the future
- it is particularly suited to senior managers or future leaders
- the course will also benefit facilitators and engagement practitioners that wish to run foresighting activities for clients.
Course format/features
The course uses a blended learning approach, drawing on the strengths of both online and face-to-face learning. Two full-day in-person sessions are the heart of the course, allowing for face-to-face interaction and hands-on experiences with applying futures methods. We will run through several methods together, giving you the experience to apply them yourself.
Alongside these sessions, our online portal provides a futures toolbox. This interactive platform offers resources and activities for learning about methods we don’t cover in the face-to-face sessions, and for going deeper into those we do cover. It will remain available after the course as a resource to support your foresighting activities.
Speakers and facilitators
Chris Riedy, Professor and Research Director ISF
Chris Riedy is Professor of Sustainability Transformations and Director of Graduate Research at the Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney. Chris is a transdisciplinary action researcher with a focus on sustainability transformations. He uses sociological and political theory, narrative theory and futures thinking to design, facilitate and evaluate practical experiments in transformative change towards sustainable futures. Chris is an Advisor to the international Transformations Community and is on the Editorial Board of Futures and Action Research. He is currently leading an assessment of Australia’s energy foresighting and planning capability for the RACE for 2030 Cooperative Research Centre.