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Author: Junaid Abbas 

The Futures Forum was created by UCL STEaPP researcher Dr. Ine Steenmans and UCL’s Policy Impact Unit to bring together diverse stakeholders and initiate conversations about the ways policies could impact societies in the long-term. Previous workshops covered topics such as the futures of Health Inequalities, the Circular Economy for Construction, and Pandemic Preparedness, each discussing the hopes, fears and challenges affecting different parts of society. 

The nature of these workshops is distinctive in that it uses futures thinking to guide participants through a joint exploration of the futures of a particular policy topic or issue. This places all participants on equal footing to promote inclusivity and a free exchange of ideas. Through engaging in various activities throughout the event, participants gain exposure to different viewpoints and deepen their awareness of the language, framing and culture shaping policy issues. 

The Futures Forum Toolkit offers a step-by-step guide for how you can organise a Futures Forum yourself. There is a comprehensive breakdown for how these events can be structured and how they may be customised for different subjects. It also offers advice for event organisers on objective setting and evaluation methods for their Futures Forum events. The final toolkit section also features a checklist (with suggested timelines) illustrating how the whole event organising comes together. 

This detailed guidance is directed towards anyone who has a commitment to strengthen knowledge exchange between research and policy communities. As we look towards solving the complex challenges facing society, we must recognise the importance of communicating complex ideas across diverse disciplines and anticipate how policies will affect different stakeholders. The Futures Forum aims to do exactly this by supporting more inclusive engagement between individuals with different lived experiences and expertise. 

To learn more, check out our webpage.

The development of the Futures Forum Methodology and the production of the Futures Forum Toolkit were funded by UCL Public Policy through Research England’s QR-PSF funding.