PECS Policy Dialogue | Oonsie Biggs

An introduction to the programme on ecosystem change and society. We’re living in a new geological era where human activities are shaping planetary dynamics. How do we work towards a new world that satisfies both environmental and social needs?

CST Visioning Workshop Experience

At an ‘Anthropocene Visioning Workshop’ hosted by the CST in November 2016, a diverse group of key thinkers in southern Africa − including artists, social entrepreneurs, researchers, and policy-makers, was convened to engage in a visioning process to scope a range of plausible “good” futures based on perspectives from a variety of regional actors. This workshop built on the Seeds of Good Anthropocenes collaboration, which is an effort led by the Stockholm Resilience Centre in Sweden, McGill University in Canada, and Stellenbosch University that seeks to counterbalance dystopic visions of the future that may be inhibiting our collective ability to move creatively towards a positive trajectory for the Earth and humanity.

CST Visioning Process

At an ‘Anthropocene Visioning Workshop’ hosted by the CST in November 2016, a diverse group of key thinkers in southern Africa − including artists, social entrepreneurs, researchers, and policy-makers, was convened to engage in a visioning process to scope a range of plausible “good” futures based on perspectives from a variety of regional actors. This workshop built on the Seeds of Good Anthropocenes collaboration, which is an effort led by the Stockholm Resilience Centre in Sweden, McGill University in Canada, and Stellenbosch University that seeks to counterbalance dystopic visions of the future that may be inhibiting our collective ability to move creatively towards a positive trajectory for the Earth and humanity.

Good anthropocenes Southern Africa

At an ‘Anthropocene Visioning Workshop’ hosted by the CST in November 2016, a diverse group of key thinkers in southern Africa − including artists, social entrepreneurs, researchers, and policy-makers, was convened to engage in a visioning process to scope a range of plausible “good” futures based on perspectives from a variety of regional actors. This workshop built on the Seeds of Good Anthropocenes collaboration, which is an effort led by the Stockholm Resilience Centre in Sweden, McGill University in Canada, and Stellenbosch University that seeks to counterbalance dystopic visions of the future that may be inhibiting our collective ability to move creatively towards a positive trajectory for the Earth and humanity.

Futures Literacy | Roberto Poli

Roberto Poli (PhD Utrecht) is Associate Professor of Philosophy of Science at the University of Trento (Italy) where he is Director of the master in “Previsione sociale” (Social Foresight) of the Department of Sociology and Social Research. Poli has been awarded the first UNESCO Chair in Anticipatory Systems (http://www.projectanticipation.org), is President of –skopìa, a start-up of the University of Trento offering anticipation services on a professional basis (http://www.skopia.it), is fellow of WAAS—World Academy of Art and Science and STIAS—Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study. Poli also coordinates the research unit eVita—Età della vita (Ages of life), and is editor-in-chief of Axiomathes (Springer), and editor of the series Categories (De Gruyter). Poli is a member of the editorial board of five journals, including Futures and European Journal of Futures Research. He has published five books, edited or co-edited more than 20 books or journal’s special issues and published more than 200 scientific papers.

How to connect to the future in the changing world? | Prof. Markku Wilenius

4 November 2019

On 4 November 2019 the Centre for Complex Systems in Transition http://www0.sun.ac.za/cst/, together with the Association of Professional Futurists https://www.apf.org/?, hosted an APF Africa regional gathering / Anthropocene Dialogue with world renowned futurist, Prof Markku Wilenius. Markku, who heads up the international Masters programme for future studies at Turku School of Economics, shared his work on long-term socio-economic transitions and anticipatory capacities.

Scenario Planning and Complexity | Dr Rika Preiser

24 September 2019

On why scenario planning is a powerful tool to study complexity