In collaboration with the Royal Society of Arts and MetroPolis we will be working with policy-makers, RSA Fellows and others to answer an important and timely question: what benefits do foresight methods offer to support policy-makers and practitioners, and to stimulate public dialogue on key issues?
What is strategic foresight?
Strategic foresight is the application of systematic and organised thinking to engage with the future and the uncertainty surrounding it. It is an established discipline in some sectors, such as defence, energy and some areas of government.
Why are we exploring this method?
We have been exploring foresight methods in a number of recent projects and are interested to develop our thinking in this area. Metropolis, Manchester Met’s academic-led think tank, has supported a number of projects across the University where foresight has been a key dimension. The RSA has long thought about the practical steps through which positive change can be effected, and captures these insights and methods in its model of change.
More recently, the COVID-19 crisis has brought thinking about the future and the need to make policy planning more robust into sharp focus.
Key dates
We aim to conclude the research phase of this project during summer 2020 and plan to hold a roundtable event to share and discuss our findings in the autumn.
Contact
For more information, please get in touch with Aleksandra Szymczyk (A.Szymczyk@mmu.ac.uk) at PERU or Lab@rsa.org.uk