Foresight Folk: Growing Foresight 2024
Research report by Foresight Folk (Dec 2024) presenting a survey of practitioners (101 respondents analyzed) on careers, competencies, and learning pathways in futures practice.
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It argues the field has grown recently,49% newcomers and 84% mid-career transitions,and identifies core competencies (Strategic Foresight 67%, Futures Literacy 66%), skills gaps, and distinct learning needs for Newcomers versus Established professionals
Report Foresight Folk
- Slide 1: Foresight Folk report (December 2024) exploring strengths, priorities, and practitioner
- Slide 2: Chapter list and page references: Introduction (p3), Methodology (p4), Journeys
- Slide 3: Introduction frames the study’s themes:how futurist expertise is shaped
- Slide 4: Study objective and survey design: 26 structured questions fielded Nov
- Slide 5: 01 Journeys into Foresight
- Slide 6: Summarises longstanding debates on specialisation versus cross‑disciplinary practice and outlines
- Slide 7: Becoming a futurist tends to be a mid‑career decision
- Slide 8: Significant influx of new entrants over the past five years
- Slide 9: Futurists favour independent and flexible work settings
- Slide 10: Futurists come from diverse prior fields
- Slide 11: The key driver for joining the field remains Fascination with the Future
- Slide 12: Most respondents specialise in foresight through specific applications, outcomes, and methods
- Slide 13: Respondents frequently build on their existing expertise by layering foresight competencies
- Slide 14: Deep Dive: Foresight-Driven Innovation (n = 37)
- Slide 15: Deep Dive: Organisational Foresight (n = 36)
- Slide 16: Deep Dive: Participatory Foresight (n = 36)
- Slide 17: Key Insights and Reflections
- Slide 18: Chapter cover introducing an examination of the competencies, skills, knowledge
- Slide 19: Over two decades Foresight & Futures has become more specialised
- Slide 20: Two approaches to foresight development
- Slide 21: Strategic Foresight and Futures Literacy lead competency rankings
- Slide 22: Envision and Research dominate while Understand and Apply lag
- Slide 23: Practitioners prioritise applied competencies for development
- Slide 24: Facilitation and storytelling are core foresight skills
- Slide 25: Futurists combine core skill strengthening with interest in AI and prototyping
- Slide 26: Present-focused knowledge (society, technology) dominates expertise
- Slide 27: Five-category framework for organising foresight knowledge areas
- Slide 28: Proficiency clusters around Contemporary Dynamics with gaps in Contextual and Structural knowledge
- Slide 29: Complexity Theory and Indigenous knowledge show rising aspirational demand
- Slide 30: Deep generalists and polymaths are the largest self-identified profiles
- Slide 31: Aligning foresight roles with project needs
- Slide 32: Key insights and reflections on foresight practice
- Slide 33: Section header introducing the chapter on how futurists learn, covering
- Slide 34: Setting the stage for learning pathways
- Slide 35: Formal & structured learning for Newcomers
- Slide 36: Self-directed learning for advanced needs
- Slide 37: Interactive & community-based learning through networks
- Slide 38: Experiential learning access gap for Newcomers
- Slide 39: Personalised learning supports reflection and growth
- Slide 40: Motivations reflect career stage priorities
- Slide 41: Distinct challenges reflect different stages of career progression and work settings
- Slide 42: Information overload, inefficiency, and lack of trusted resources may lead
- Slide 43: Key Insights and Reflections
- Slide 44: Section header introducing the report's bibliography and source list
- Slide 45: Bibliographic citations for futures studies literature cited in the report
- Slide 46: Start of the appendix containing supplementary lists and reference material
- Slide 47: A curated list of foresight specialisations:examples include Cultural Research, Speculative
- Slide 48: Competencies for foresight practice such as Strategic Foresight, Futures Literacy
- Slide 49: Practical skills listed include communication and visualisation, storytelling, facilitation
- Slide 50: List of Knowledge Areas
- Slide 51: List of Knowledge Areas
- Slide 52: List of Expertise Profiles
- Slide 53: List of Motivations for Learning
- Slide 54: Current Work Setting : All Respondents
- Slide 55: Most Important Motivations : Newcomers vs. Established
- Slide 56: Least Important Motivations : All Respondents
- Slide 57: Bubble-map of 117 respondents (396 entries, Ø 3.4 fields each)
- Slide 58: Deep Dive: Trend Research or Forecasting (n = 36)
- Slide 59: Deep Dive: Cultural Research & Futures (n = 31)
- Slide 60: Deep Dive: Building Foresight Capabilities (n = 30)
- Slide 61: Formal education and training in futures studies
- Slide 62: Average competencies, skills, and knowledge by profile
- Slide 63: Deep dive: top competencies, skills and specializations
- Slide 64: Expertise profiles : newcomers versus established respondents
- Slide 65: Foresight Folk : study design, analysis & system by Katharina
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