Master’s Degree Programme in Future Studies

University of Turku

The Master’s Degree Programme in Futures Studies provides comprehensive, multidisciplinary and practical education in the field of futures studies. It is designed to educate foresight experts who help organisations to harness future opportunities and avoid unnecessary risks.

The Programme includes plenty of rehearsal, case-studies and real-life experiences on using foresight methodology. These range from quantitative and qualitative methods to innovative and creative futures design techniques.

https://www.utu.fi/en/study-at-utu/masters-degree-programme-in-futures-studies

The Future of Communities - Call for Papers

The aim of this special issue of Futures is to publish articles proposing:

- critical assessment of future-oriented decision and policy-making processes involving communities at various levels (local, national or global communities, online communities);

- novel methodological approaches introducing the concept of community in foresight and scenario design;

- discussions of the future temporalities and of the transformations of communities over time, including scenarios on the futures of specific communities (including transnational, professional, artistic and scientific communities);

- analyses of the role of communities in the anticipation and the management of sustainability issues such as the ruling of global commons in a long-range and future-oriented perspective.

Closing date for new submissions: March 31, 2020

https://www.journals.elsevier.com/futures/call-for-papers/the-futures-of-communities

Africa Health 2020

12-14 May 2020
Johannesburg, South Africa

Bringing you the future of healthcare in Africa
The largest healthcare event across the continent

Africa Health is a premier platform connecting industry professionals from around the region who value learning, networking and business.

https://www.africahealthexhibition.com/en/home.html

Call for abstracts: Climate change and Migration in Africa

The Africa Portal, in conjunction with the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) and the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), seeks abstracts focused on its second thematic series, Climate Change and Migration in Africa.

A panel of experts will select 8-10 abstracts and invite the authors to develop these into policy briefs. The authors will then work closely with experts to build their abstracts into actionable policy briefs that will be published on the Africa Portal. A monetary token will be awarded to the authors of the three best publications, as selected by the panel.

https://www.africaportal.org/features/call-abstracts-climate-change-and-migration-africa/

Work/Technology 2050: Scenarios and Actions

Report on a three-year international study that produced three detailed scenarios, conducted 30 national workshops in 29 countries, identified hundreds of action distilled to 93 that were assessed by hundreds of futurists and related experts in over 50 countries.

Cover of Work/Technology 2050: Scenarios and Action

Work/Technology 2050: Scenarios and Actions could be the broadest, deepest, long-range international assessment about what to do about the future impacts of future technology.
A pragmatic exploration of possible futures – choices and consequences – really exercised my imagination. — Vint Cerf, Internet Pioneer

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.

Income gaps are widening, the concentration of wealth is increasing, jobless economic growth seems the new norm, and return on investment in capital and technology is usually better than in labor. As labor costs go up and AI and robot costs go down, manufacturing and service unemployment rates are expected to increase. So, what to do?

The Millennium Project reviewed over thirty “future of work” studies to find what questions were not asked and those that were answered inadequately. This formed the basis for a questionnaire (referred to as a Real-Time Delphi or RTD) to answer these questions. The results were used to create three draft scenarios to 2050 (alternative stories that connect the world in 2050 to the present with cause and effect links that illustrate decisions). Each scenario received a critical review by international panels of futurists and relevant experts selected by The Millennium Project’s Nodes around the world (these Nodes are groups of institutions and people that connect global and local perspectives and research). Each scenario is about ten pages full of rich details about plausible developments from today to 2050.

http://www.millennium-project.org/projects/workshops-on-future-of-worktechnology-2050-scenarios/

Millennium Project Newsletter 6.0

Newsletter 6.0

1. Work/Technology 2050: Scenarios and Actions
2. The State of the Future 19.1 in several languages
3. International Strategic Foresight Certification Training in Brazil
4. South African Node Work/Tech Workshop 12 Minute Documentary
5. Foresight European Network (FEN)
6. Ibero-American Foresight Network (RIBER)
7. Mini Trip Reports of the Executive Director
8. Short Videos of the 15 Global Challenges
9. New Millennium Project Nodes in Costa Rica and Iceland.
10. World Future Day
11. Global Think Tank Index

https://mailchi.mp/millennium-project/millennium-project-newsletter-60