Futures Conference Immersion – Three Conferences Three Weeks

By Elissa Farrow

• Messages and narratives of the future can create change. (Fuller, June 2019, Turku, Finland)
• Humans cannot describe sense and make sense of the world in the present without their images of the future. (Millar, September 2019, Mexico City, Mexico)
• Next year Athena (AI Robot) might be doing my presentation. (Jackson, September 2019, Bangkok, Thailand)

I am diving in the cool ocean. I see sea creatures, plants and dappled greeny-blue light.  I feel the cool temperature and the pressure of the depths. I hear the gurgles of my bubbles and the shhhh of my breath as I exhale. I come up for air. I feel the sun on my skin and salt stings my eyes a little. I am feeling different from my immersion: vitalised, energised and centred. I go in again.

I am in year two of my futures doctoral research at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia. I am exploring the implications of adaptation on organisational futures due to Artificial Intelligence, and in ‘immersion mode’. Two of my supervisors for this adventure, Dr Marcus Bussey and Professor Sohail Inayatullah suggested that I attend a futures conference. They thought it would enrich my understanding about futures knowledge domains, be a chance to test and share my own research, and most importantly meet the community of futures and foresight researchers and practitioners who have created this field. I agreed totally.

I conducted a search of futures conferences, commenced abstract submission, blocked out the diary and saved up for my futures ‘deep dive’. I had joy with my abstracts and I believe I am the only person who was lucky (and a little crazy) enough to attend three futures conferences in one year:

• Finland Futures Conference, Turku, Finland (12-13 June 2019)
• World Futures Studies Federation, Mexico City, Mexico (10-13 September 2019)
• Asia Pacific Futures Congress, Bangkok, Thailand (17-18 September 2019)

One of the ways that I learn is through participatory and immersive processes. This blog covers my insights into the three conferences which I have captured using a comparative Causal Layered Analysis table. Causal Layered Analysis (CLA), as many Journal of Futures Studies blog readers would know, is a futures research methodology and theory of knowledge created by Inayatullah (1998) that is “concerned less with predicting a particular future and more with opening up the present and past to create alternative futures” (Inayatullah, 1998). Conducting a CLA is a rewarding insight process and is a matter of exploring first and then using CLA to extrapolate the insight. So first of all, some context and the story of my experience at each of the conferences.

The first conference was in Turku, Finland and organized by the Finland Futures Research Centre. This was my first trip to Finland, and my impression of Finland before arriving was of a European country held up as a positive example of innovation, liberalism, green space and equality.

The theme of the Finland conference was constructing social futures which linked strongly to the Research Centre’s aims of promoting sustainable futures. Presentations explored concepts around sustainability, responsibility, and power from either an academic or practitioner perspective. There were around 300 people in attendance at this fantastic old repurposed railway station/convention centre in Turku on the west coast of Finland. A city from the middle ages on the beautiful Aura River. Historically, always a major trading point with other parts of Europe. Food and cultural experiences are important to me as part of any immersive experience. Food at this conference was predominantly vegetarian and very seasonal. Delegates were from many (mainly European) countries and presentations outlined new forms of participatory democracy, technological and innovative practices as well as new theories and case studies of social futures research.

The conference started with perspectives on power and that futures projects brought important insight but were at times cursed like Cassandra of Troy who are “blessed to know the next steps but cursed to not be believed or have others care”(Milojević, 2019). I really enjoyed finding and building connections with “other Cassandras” (Milojević, 2019). Symbolic power and using images to rehearse the future as a way of investigating it were insightful to me. Having the ability to reflect on the future with explorations of biospheres and narrative, confirmed that I needed to consider trans-contextual and planetary influences more deeply as part of my research domains. I learnt about tools that linked design to anticipation and dramatizing narratives to build understanding of social reality and create futures. Some techniques presented were not verbally articulated,but performance, movement and art oriented to shift people’s behaviour and course of action in the present (Härmä, 2019; Myllyoja, 2019). My own presentation at this conference was about “actionable futures” (Farrow, 2019), which seemed to strike a chord with a number of participants, who were keen for‘action’ rather than just academic rhetoric or talk. Future’s literacy and building futures resilience and capacity was another theme of the Finland Conference; a powerful example was given in relation to changing the narrative around climate and the importance of ‘social unlearning’ and alliance building between different groups. Key takeaways for me at the end of this conference was to bring a stronger sense of a duty of care in futures work and “replace the ethics of probability with an ethics of possibility” (Fuller, 2019), given our situation of living on a “lively planet” (Facer, 2019).

Conference two was in Mexico City, organized by the World Futures Studies Federation (WFSF)and is held only every few years. The WFSF is the first professional organization of futurists founded in the 1970s and thus has a legacy and formalized global governance structure that is more traditional and reflects a “homage to the giants” (Millar, 2019). The theme of the conference in Mexico was four-fold – Traditional, Cosmopolitan, Creative and Holistic. This conference was bilingual (Spanish and English) and also the first time a WFSF conference was held in Latin America and had a Youth Chapter representation. It was held at the UNESCO listed UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico). The conference activities and presentations demonstrated the diversity of community-based futures practice and great hope and opportunity for Futures’ insights and actions to make a positive difference. There were around 400 people in attendance. Being geographically in Mexico and at a university added a more formal nature to conference opening and close events. The timing of this workshop coincided with major issues including the Amazon jungle burning, the wall being built by the US Government and socio-environmental challenges forcing more people to urban areas from regional settings. Diversity, economic growth, planetary consciousness, and anticipatory futures literacy were themes across the conference. Miller (2019) linked the concept of anxiety reduction to being more anticipatory in our futures literacy so that “how we anticipate matters as it changes the present and lowers our levels of anxiety”. Technology and innovation insights were tied to economic prosperity, growth, and opportunity. “We need economy but with soul” (Alcocer, 2019). Futures in ‘post-normal’ times, connecting complexity, chaos and conflict were also a theme (Miklos, 2019).

Being in Latin America and operating in ‘post normal’ times seemed more ‘real’ rather than academic. I felt a stronger sense of urgency at this conference around the need to “create futures consciousness” (Lombardo, 2019) and for futurists to move from predictive to committed participatory and proactive sessions to help reach the future. To end this experience, dramatized futures and music were a theme of this conference, with ‘dancing futurists’ at a cocktail party and dinner with the Mariachi band. One lasting memory I have is the specially commissioned play “Fragments of the Future 2050” (Berenice & Baena, 2019) that was used to close the conference – leaving us with hope rather than a dystopian future, and the official launch of a young person’s chapter of the WSFS. An 11-year-old presenter was the first member.

Conference three was in Bangkok,with around 200 attendees. Being in Bangkok, Thailand you can feel and see the rapid growth and thirst for innovation with influences across other ASEAN countries. This was my second time to the Asia Pacific Futures Forum (APFN).  The theme of the conference related to culture, technology and security in the region. The conference was held in a very modern and funky industrial themed co-working and conference space. The organising committee was more of a collective not linked to a particular institute or university but instead hosted by a Thailand government agency, the National Innovation Agency. Lots of spontaneous gatherings and connections in the Thailand people’s spirit of Sanuk (play and humor). I really enjoyed the‘open space’ segment of the conference. This segment was where anyone could nominate a topic in one of two rounds of seven topics for discussion. Topics included futures poetry, meditation, novelty, data governance and region-specific topics such as the Silk Road and China/Hong Kong futures. At this conference, there was a strong innovation theme. Sharing of advanced and innovative methods of futures methods including games, improvisation, new forms of analysis (Artificial Intelligence) and more of an opportunity to test and trial prototype approaches. Keynote speakers discussed futures of security (bio and crime), automated vehicles and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Technology and innovation linked to visualisations of green, city urban design and planning and being used in the future’s prediction (Jackson, 2019). This conference had a feeling of protecting the integrity of a deeper form of collective and reflective futures practice. Sharing and growing ‘circles’ of young futurists (Zheng, 2019) and the metaphor of being stronger together in our diversity like the “Avengers” (Inayatullah, 2019). I felt a shared desire for joined-up and collective futures and of course a focus on Asia, rather than a more global focus such as the WFSF. The desire to design models of open democracy, open space and open source futures insight (like the Journal of Futures Studies) were themes that emerged across the conference for me.

Diving in deep, I gained many insights which challenged my world view, my doctoral study scope, and my consciousness. I could have attended over 265 different presentations or workshops across the three conferences. I ended up being drawn to the topics that connected most to my area of research or to the particular presenter. Thus, the CLA and my own personal experience does not reflect the totality of the conferences and is biased to the sessions I attended and aligned more to my personal research focus. But regardless, the process still took me deeper (see Table 1):

Table 1 – Three Conference Causal Layered Analysis Comparison

I had a tangled and rich experience that opened my perception up culturally, psychologically, energetically and intellectually by these three distinct experiences. What I realized from the CLA process, was that each layer of the analysis comparatively showed inter-relationships between a number of eco-systems:

• the effect of the geographic and ecology of the location of the conference (Northern Europe, Central America, and Asia);
• the physical and architectural spaces the conference was held within;
• the host countries history, religion, culture and other forms of unique socio-cultural complexity;
• the world view, agendas, themes, structure and professional focus of the organizing committees (formal to collective);
• the importance of cross-domain futures interaction and approach: games, dramatization, art, empirical, participatory, automation, anticipatory;
• the individual world view, cultural experiences, professional experience that each participant brought and chose to share; and
• my own place in all of that; my epistemology, and perspective or bias I may consciously or unconsciously hold due to my life experiences.

I found that I was renewed after each experience. Even as I write this blog, I realize that the most important part of this deep dive was what my ‘embodied’ experience was. My own metaphor shifted from being a diver in the ocean, separate and more observational, to a more enmeshed metaphor of ‘I am nature’. More layered, immersed, open, inspired and receptive. The organizers and volunteers of these conferences did an incredible job to organize three very different experiences. Within the futurist community, the world view is very diverse, rich, warm, insightful and (at times frustrated by the lack of action, but) predominantly optimistic. I am grateful to have the opportunity to commit the time and resources to undertake this immersion process. I am also glad to be part of an inclusive community that are positively building communities and hope for our collective futures.

About the Author

Elissa Farrow from About Your Transition is a  consultant and Doctoral Researcher with the University of the Sunshine Coast. Her research is exploring the area of organisational change and adaptation to the evolving field of artificial intelligence using future’s methodologies, in particular those that fall under Anticipatory Action Learning. Elissa has supported organisations to define positive futures and then successfully transform to bring lasting benefits. She has worked within a range of industries in both Australia and the Asia Pacific Region.

References

Alcocer, S. (2019). Panel Presentation, The future with us, without us or against us.Unpublished notes taken by Elissa Farrow at the World Futures Studies Federation Conference, 11 September 2019 (in attendance).

Asia Pacific Futures Network. (2019).5^th Annual Conference, Conference Programme.Bangkok, Thailand. https://sites.google.com/view/apfn2019/home

Berenice, A.& Baena, M. (2019). Fragments of Humanity 2050. Play presented by Forward Theatre in Spanish with English Translation.Unpublished notes taken by Elissa Farrow at the World Futures Studies Federation Conference, Mexico City, 13 September 2019 (in attendance).

Facer, K. (2019). All our futures? Climate change, democracy and missing public spaces. Unpublished notes taken by Elissa Farrow at the Finland Futures Conference, Turku, Finland, 13 June 2019 (in attendance).

Farrow, E. (2019). That futures workshop was great – So what now??? Future scenarios to lasting action and agency. Presented by Elissa Farrow 13 June 2019 (in attendance).

Fuller, T. (2019). On responsible futures: What can we do, what should we do?Unpublished notes taken by Elissa Farrow at the Finland Futures Conference, Turku, Finland, 13 June 2019 (in attendance).

Hames, R. (2019). The Expanded Now. Unpublished notes taken by Elissa Farrow,at the 5^th Asia Pacific Futures Network Conference, Bangkok, Thailand,18 September 2019(in attendance),

Härmä, I. Director. (2019).WHO MADE YOU? Exploring the uncanny valley. Unpublished notes taken by Elissa Farrow at the Finland Futures Conference, Turku, Finland, 13 June 2019 (in attendance).

Inayatullah, S. (1998). Causal Layered Analysis. Poststructuralism as a Method. Futures, 30 (8). 815-829.

Inayatullah, S. (2019). Using the Future to Transform: A Meta to Mantra Scale. Unpublished notes taken by Elissa Farrow, 18 September 2019 (in attendance).

Jackson, M. (2019). The future of ASEAN 2030 – Using AI to predict the future.Unpublished notes taken by Elissa Farrow,at the 5^th Asia Pacific Futures Network Conference, Bangkok, Thailand, 18 September 2019 (in attendance).

Lombardo, T. (2019) Workshop – Holistic Future Consciousness. Unpublished notes taken by Elissa Farrow, World Futures Research Federation Conference, Mexico City, 10 September 2019 (in attendance).

Miklos, T. (2019) Panel Presentation, The future with us, without us or against us.Unpublished notes taken by Elissa Farrow at the World Futures Studies Federation Conference, Mexico City, 11 September 2019 (in attendance).

Milojević, I. (2019). Power For, Against, With and Within: Futures Studies as Practice. Unpublished notes taken by Elissa Farrow at the Finland Futures Conference, Turku, Finland, 12 June 2019 (in attendance).

Millar, R. (2019). Introduction to Futures Literacy and Futures Literacy Laboratories. Unpublished notes taken by Elissa Farrow at the World Futures Studies Federation Conference, Mexico City, 11 September 2019 (in attendance).

Murphy, J. and Saarimaa, R. (2019) Constructing Social Futures, 12-13 June 2019, Book of Abstracts. Finland Futures Research Centre, Finland Futures Academy, University of Turku. ISBN 978-952-249-529-7 (pdf) https://futuresconference2019.com/contact/futures-conferences/

Myllyoja, J. (2019).Experiencing scenarios through dramatized narratives.Unpublished notes taken by Elissa Farrow at the Finland Futures Conference,Turku, Finland, 13 June 2019 (in attendance).

World Futures Studies Federation. (2019) Conference Schedule.

https://www.wfsfconferencemexico.org/home

Zheng, L (K). (2019) Futures and Strategy in China, Presentation at 5^th Asia Pacific Futures Network Conference.  Unpublished notes taken by Elissa Farrow,at the 5^th Asia Pacific Futures Network Conference, Bangkok, Thailand, 18 September 2019 (in attendance).