Future Thinking and Making

How Foresight and Scenario Planning Can Help Us Reimagine Our World

The Insights for Action seminar series explores how researchers and practitioners within and beyond Oxford are using research insights to drive social change.

This seminar will explore how different actors, including public and private organisations, academics, and activists, imagine and act on different understandings of the future. A central theme is that futures are rarely singular: they emerge through different forms of expertise and institutional practice, and are not always fully aligned. The seminar asks what can be learned when contrasting visions of the future are brought into conversation, particularly in relation to social change and sustainability.

Speakers:

Ignacio Pérez Karich is the Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Foresight and Scenario Planning - Future of Mobility, at the Oxford-Hyundai Motor Group Foresight Centre. Ignacio’s research explores the intersection of mobility, urban governance and big data, focusing on how socio-technical systems shape the future of transport in diverse urban contexts. He holds a DPhil in Geography from the University of Oxford, where his research examined big data practices and their implications for governance within Santiago de Chile’s public transport system. Ignacio also holds an MSc in Urban Development Planning from University College London and a BA in Sociology from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Ignacio has held academic and consultancy roles with leading organisations, including the Inter-American Development Bank, the United Nations, and various urban policy think tanks across Latin America and Europe.

Juliane Reinecke is Professor of Management Studies at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. She is a Fellow at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and Research Fellow at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, from where she received her PhD. Her research focuses on mechanisms for achieving sustainable futures in organisations and in global value chains, such as through transnational multi-stakeholder governance, collective action, and social movements. Her work has been published in the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Management Studies, Organization Science, Organization Studies, and Research Policy, among others. Juliane’s research has been recognised with multiple awards from the Academy of Management and other professional organisations. She serves as Associate Editor of the Academy of Management Journal and as a trustee of the Society for the Advancement of Management Studies (SAMS).

Roc Sandford is a writer, climate & nature dissident, and member of artists’ collectives Ocean Rebellion and Hard Art. Offering not only a lyrical take on nature’s mystery but a rational one on the dangerous stresses we face, Roc's most recent book, Burnt Rain (Hazel Press), was published in July 2023. Rebel, Rebel, an Emergency Dialogue, an experimental non-fiction account of being ordinary rebels in the early days of Extinction Rebellion, was written with Susana Medina and published in June 2024. Writing, editing, profiles, reviews or interviews have appeared in the Telegraph, Times, Mail, Guardian, Observer, Sun, Mirror, Scotsman, Herald, Reuters & many other outlets. As a mathematical geographer, Roc modelled perceptual bias at Bristol, Penn State, and UCL; was a member of David Graeber's Brains Trust; and is a director of Mathematical Sciences UK, a community arts charity, Gerry’s Pompeii, and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Having helped start Writers Rebel, David Graeber Institute, Absurd Intelligence and Catalysers, Roc presents a message of climate and nature collapse, inadequate complex system modelling, the currently dismal policy response, and sector-specific asks at ministerial level and below to multilateral bodies, government, finance, accountancy & academia.

Moderator:

Professor Marya Besharov is Professor of Organisations and Impact and Academic Director of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship. Her research and teaching focus on leadership, social impact, and hybrid organisations. She engages with leaders and organisations worldwide to help them manage competing demands of social impact and financial performance. Marya received a BA in Social Studies, an MA in Sociology, and a PhD in Organisational Behaviour from Harvard University. She also holds an MBA from Stanford University.

Please note: the link to access the event online will be emailed to you approximately 48 hours before the event, and on the day of the event.

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