IFTF Foresight Essentials
IFTF Foresight Talks
IFTF Foresight Talks webinars host leading-edge foresight practitioners in practical, inspiring conversations about how and why they do their work. Join us to hear insights and reflections on the evolving futures landscape - and to ask your own questions directly in a Q&A session.
These talks are free, open to all, and ideal for graduates of the IFTF Foresight Essentials training. Each session lasts one hour, includes a period for questions from the audience, and is archived below one week after its airing. Foresight Talks occur monthly.
Upcoming IFTF Foresight Talks
The Capacity to Decolonize
Tuesday, March 16th
9:00am PT / 12:00pm ET
Join us when IFTF will host Dr. Geci Karuri-Sebina, a founding director of the Southern Africa Node of the Millennium Project, who'll talk about her personal journey in futures thinking, including her current participation in a growing agenda to build futures literacy and decolonize futures, starting in Africa. We will explore with her the critical issues, insights, and experiences that she thinks may be pointing us towards new questions and ideas about foresight practice and capabilities.
Geci Karuri-Sebina is a scholar-practitioner based in Johannesburg working in the intersection between people, place and socio-technical change. Her work is mainly in Africa and the global south. She has a diverse background, spanning a range of foresight, policy, innovation and practice topics, and has worked extensively in R&D, government and civic organizations.
Geci holds several current affiliations including as: the national organizer for the Civic Tech Innovation Network hosted at Wits University; Adjunct Professor at the University of Cape Town’s African Centre for Cities; founding Director of the Southern Africa Node of the Millennium Project; Singularity University global faculty member on the Future of Cities; a Curator of The Emergence Network; and she was recently the Africa curator for the UNESCO Futures Literacy Summit 2020.
Transition Design: An Approach to Co-Creating Preferred Futures Pathways
Thursday, April 15th
8:00am PT / 11:00am ET
A new approach is needed to address the complex, wicked problems confronting societies in the 21st century. Social issues form the roots of many wicked problems, yet often go unseen and unaddressed by traditional problem-solving approaches. IFTF will host Terry Irwin and Gideon Kossoff of the Transition Design Institute at Carnegie-Mellon University to discuss the emerging practice of Transition Design, which draws on approaches from the social sciences to understand the social roots of wicked problems and places stakeholder concerns and co-design/collaboration at the heart of the problem-solving process. Transition design sees the future as both a space in which stakeholders can transcend their differences in the present and enter into a space in which they can create together and build trust as the basis for the more difficult work in the present. The future and the past are both seen as crucial in developing systems interventions that are connected to each other, as well as the long-term vision and the transition pathway milestones. With this Foresight Talk we aim to introduce the IFTF community to this approach, and ideally initiate a deeper conversation and collaboration in designing transition pathways towards preferred futures.
*For an overview of Transition Design, watch this 20-minute video of Terry exploring COVID-19 through the lens of Transition Design.
From the Archives of Foresight Talks
IFTF Foresight Talk: The Things We Did Next: Collaboratively Envisioning Multiple Futures
On Feb 22, 2021, Institute for the Future hosted a Foresight Talk with Alex Kelly and David Pledger, co-creators of The Things We Did Next, a collaborative practice that generates a series of interconnected artworks and projects based on collectively imagining multiple futures. Explore how they work with artists and cultural operators to generate bold, positive, and transformative visions of the future. We discussed how Covid has impacted their work & the lessons they have learnt by bringing creative approaches to online futuring. For more information, visit The Things We Did Next website. https://www.thethingswedidnext.org/
IFTF Foresight Talk: The Initiative for Indigenous Futures
Interested in the intersections between art, technology futures, and indigenous knowledge? On January 14, IFTF Executive Director Marina Gorbis joined digital media artist Jason Edward Lewis for a conversation, followed by plenty of time for your questions. We’ll learn what Jason is currently working on and what he recommends for other foresight practitioners to expand our minds, work practices, and imaginations.
IFTF Foresight Talk: Equity and Decolonization - Transformation at the Intersection of Aid, Policy, and Foresight
On Wednesday, December 2, 2020, Institute for the Future hosted humanitarian Aarathi Krishnan, Strategy and Foresight Advisor for UNDP, to discuss what it takes to design decolonial futures, and how to ensure the foresight methodologies we use are pluralistic, equitable and go beyond surface-level rhetoric. We explored what it means to tangibly move from theory to practice to policy, how to create tipping points of change on an ecosystem-wide level, and what it takes to build foresight muscle from the ground up in a global organization.
IFTF Foresight Talk: Queering the Future to Save the Future with Jason Tester
On November 19, 2020, Institute for the Future hosted IFTF Research Affiliate Jason Tester to discuss "queering the future": the untapped power of looking ahead through the perspective of LGBTQ people, a group that has been historically marginalized yet constantly adaptive and resilient. Jason shared the art and science of seeing hidden resources, alternative systems, and transformative solutions by adopting a more expansive, transgressive, and liberating view of the future.
IFTF Foresight Talk: Curating the End of the World—An Afrofuturist 2.0 Lens on our Collapse and Survival
On October 20, 2020, Institute for the Future hosted renowned Afrofuturist Dr. Reynaldo Anderson to discuss the second wave of Afrofuturism, to interrogate our constructions of the past, present, and future, and to share insights and lessons from his extensive career as a scholar and organizer of a cultural movement.
IFTF Foresight Talk: How to Future: A Practical, Tactical Guide to Foresight
On September 30, 2020, Institute for the Future hosted renowned futurists and teachers Madeline Ashby and Scott Smith to discuss their new book How to Future: Leading and Sensemaking in an Age of Hyperchange. Scott and Madeline gave a taste of what's in the book, shared reflections on how futuring feels different in a post-COVID world, and shared valuable lessons from their extensive careers as futures practitioners.
IFTF Foresight Talk with Ann Pendleton-Julian & John Seely Brown: Steering Change in a Whitewater World—Working with Wicked Problems: PART 2
Find JSB and APJ's responses to the unanswered webinar questions.
We are now living in a whitewater world: hyperconnected, rapidly changing, and radically contingent. On Sept 3, 2020, IFTF hosted a talk with Ann Pendleton-Jullian and John Seely Brown, whose book, Design Unbound, argues the need for a new approach to address the complex and entangled challenges increasingly found in this dynamic world. Pendleton-Jullian and Brown describe a new mindset based on understanding complex systems from an ecological perspective and introduce tools to respond to these challenges.The authors call for harnessing the power of a pragmatic imagination that engages a full range of mental activities to discover radically new solutions. They describe the practice of "world building," which can guide the development of transformational solutions to seemingly intractable—"wicked"—problems. Part Two went into more depth on the pragmatic imagination - how to scaffold and instrumentalize it - and presented a case study that pulls all of this together. You do not need to have seen Part 1 of the webinar, but we recommend watching it for a deeper understanding.
IFTF Foresight Talk with Ann Pendleton-Julian & John Seely Brown: Steering Change in a Whitewater World—Working with Wicked Problems: PART 1
We are now living in a whitewater world: hyperconnected, rapidly changing, and radically contingent. On Thursday, Aug 20, 2020, IFTF hosted a talk with Ann Pendleton-Julian and John Seely Brown, whose book, Design Unbound, argues the need for a new approach to address the complex and entangled challenges increasingly found in this dynamic world.Pendleton-Julian and Brown describe a new mindset based on understanding complex systems from an ecological perspective and introduce tools to respond to these challenges.The authors call for harnessing the power of a pragmatic imagination that engages a full range of mental activities to discover radically new solutions. They describe the practice of "world building," which can guide the development of transformational solutions to seemingly intractable—"wicked"—problems.
IFTF Foresight Talk: How to Build Brave New Worlds
On July 16, 2020, IFTF's Director of Game Research and Development Jane McGonigal hosted a free, public-facing webinar with guest Leah Zaidi, master storyteller and founder of the strategic foresight consultancy Multiverse Design to hear some of Leah Zaidi's most surprising recent forecasts on the future of love technology and the future of work, as she unpacked the process of how she created them. Leah gave an up-to-date look at how the possible long-term consequences of our global COVID-19 response are changing and playing out differently in different parts of the world. Jane and Leah also explored the connections between game design and the seven foundations of worldbuilding, inspired by how science fiction writers imagine and communicate new possibilities.
IFTF Foresight Talk with Cecily Sommers
On June 9, 2020 Institute for the Future's research director Jake Dunagan hosted Cecily Sommers, Business Futurist, in a Foresight Talk. When the ball dropped on the 21st century, it collided with three technological revolutions (AI, synthetic biology, quantum computing) that are redefining humanity, and three existential threats (pandemics, climate change, nuclear war) that could wipe it out. Now, twenty years later, as we transition into a new decade, futurist Cecily Sommers will address how COVID-19 is accelerating the pendular transition into a new era, and the equal and opposite potentials it is energizing for business and society.
IFTF Foresight Talk: Laura Nissen—Building the US's First Lab to Explore the Future of Social Work
The new National Social Work Education Health Futures Lab will “create opportunities for social workers to come together and envision a world that they would like to be in, while building the skills to help get there,” says Portland State University’s Professor Dr. Laura Nissen, principal investigator of the new lab. On Tuesday, May 19th, IFTF hosted a free webinar with Dr. Laura Nissen, PSU Presidential Futures Fellow and IFTF Research Fellow, to learn how she's spearheading significant research projects “on issues related to the future such as technology use and impact, climate change, and related topics.”
IFTF Foresight Talk with Stuart Candy
On Tuesday, April 28, 2020 IFTF hosted Dr. Stuart Candy, Director of Situation Lab, Associate Professor of Design at Carnegie Mellon University, and Fellow of The Long Now Foundation, for a webinar about how designing fragments of possible futures can help create social and organizational change. Professor Candy shared some of the methods that he has devised and employed with communities, learners, and institutions around the world.
IFTF Foresight Talk with Dr. René Rohrbeck of EDHEC Business School
On Thursday, March 12th, Institute for the Future, together with EDHEC Business School's Dr. René Rohrbeck, hosted a free and public-facing webinar about how organizations can use foresight tools and methods to drive organizational transformation, strategic innovation, and desirable futures. Dr. Rohrbeck discussed methods that he and his team have developed and their learnings from 15 years of benchmarking firms on corporate foresight.
IFTF Foresight Talk with The World Bank Group's Rachel Alexandra Halsema
On Thursday, February 20th, Institute for the Future, together with The World Bank Group's Rachel Alexandra Halsema, hosted a free and public-facing webinar about how she's applying foresight and design thinking in her role at the ITS Technology & Innovation Lab and what impact it has on the organization's global work.
IFTF Foresight Talks: Designing the Future with Jake Dunagan and Jacques Barcia
On Thursday, January 16, 2020, Institute for the Future hosted a free and public-facing webinar with award-winning design futurists and the instructors of IFTF's new Design Futures Training, Dr. Jake Dunagan and Jacques Barcia, about why it's important to create full-bodied experiences of the future in order to truly immerse people in your vision.
IFTF Foresight Talks: Futures and Forests—Strategic Foresight at the U.S. Forest Service
On Wednesday, December 11th at 9:00am Pacific Time, Institute for the Future, together with the US Forest Service's David Bengston and Jason Crabtree, hosted a free and public-facing webinar about how they're developing and applying foresight methods and thinking to help forest planners, managers, and policy makers anticipate and prepare for change.
IFTF Foresight Talk with Jane McGonigal
On Thursday, November 14, Institute for the Future hosted a free webinar with Director of Games Research & Development, Dr. Jane McGonigal, about how she's pushing the futures thinking field from niche to mainstream by way of her new massively open online courses, which invite the public to game out hard-to-anticipate futures together.
IFTF Foresight Talk: Nestle's Global Consumer Insight & Market Intelligence Mgr, Dimitri Gerebtzoff
On Thursday, September 19th, Institute for the Future, together with Nestle's Global Consumer Insight and Market Intelligence Manager, Dimitri Gerebtzoff, hosted public-facing webinar about what it's like to sense early trends at one of the world's leading food companies. Join us to talk about how Dimitri manages his global network of trend sensers and how he transforms trends into business opportunities and products.
IFTF Foresight Talks with Lisa K. Solomon of the Stanford University d. School
On July 24, 2019 Institute for the Future, together with Stanford University d.school's Designer in Residence Lisa Kay Solomon, hosted a free and public-facing webinar about the intersections and applications of design and futures thinking.
IFTF Foresight Talks: Webinar with Microsoft Envisioning Team's Ming-Li Chai and Harald Becker
On March 19, 2019
Institute for the Future, together with Microsoft Envisioning Team's Ming-Li Chai and Harald Becker, hosted a free webinar for the public about what it's like to make the future in one of the world's leading tech companies
About IFTF Foresight Essentials
Institute for the Future is the world’s leading futures organization. Its training program, IFTF Foresight Essentials, is a comprehensive portfolio of strategic foresight training tools based upon 50 years of IFTF best practices. IFTF Foresight Essentials cultivates the mindset and skillsets that enable individuals and organizations to foresee future forces, identify emerging imperatives, and develop world-ready strategies. IFTF Foresight Essentials is uniquely customizable for businesses, government agencies, and social impact organizations.
Interested in learning more about our webinars and trainings?
Contact Cindy Baskin | cbaskin@iftf.org