The Oceania Futures and Foresight Symposium as an Embodied Practice of Regional Transformation

Report

Jeanne Hoffman¹*, Elissa Farrow²

¹Anticipating Futures, Adjunct Fellow in Futures/Futures Studies, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia, Co-editor, World Futures Review, Australia

2 Dr. Elissa Farrow, About Your Transition Pty Ltd, Adjunct Fellow in Futures/Futures Studies, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia

Abstract

The Oceania Futures and Foresight Symposium, held in April 2025 on Turrbal and Jagera Country (Meanjin/Brisbane, Australia), brought together over sixty participants from across Oceania and Africa to explore futures grounded in Aboriginal and Indigenous knowledge systems, intergenerational wisdom, and participatory practice. Conceived as a response to the lack of Oceania representation and cultural resonance in global foresight spaces, the symposium was co-created as a grassroots, non-institutional gathering. This report outlines the symposium’s story, themes, structure, and experiential methods, including sensory foresight, Causal Layered Analysis, regenerative design, and open space dialogue. We argue for an embodied, relational, and regionally rooted approach to futures thinking that reflects the diverse epistemologies of Oceania. The symposium becomes not just a moment in time but a model for future gatherings that are inclusive, grounded, and transformative.

Keywords

Oceania futures, Indigenous foresight, Intergenerational wisdom, Decolonising futures, Regional foresight networks

Introduction

What might it mean to walk backwards into the future with 60,000 years of guidance at our side and all our senses alive to receive it? What might it mean to place the ocean, not the land, at the centre of our futures thinking? How do we make space for ancestral time in an era obsessed with speed and disruption? What does the future smell like? How can dancing be a vehicle for “transmuting human and planetary experience” (Bussey, 2025, p. 21)?

These questions and more shaped the design, rhythm, and relational energy of the Oceania Futures and Foresight Symposium, held April 3–4, 2025, at Rydges Fortitude Valley in Meanjin (Brisbane) on Turrbal and Jagera Country. This diverse gathering of scholars, foresight practitioners, Elders, artists, public servants, educators, students, and activists came together to explore futures grounded in ancestral wisdom, creative practice, and participatory methodologies.

Unlike many academic conferences that frame strategic foresight through either technocratic tools or speculative design (Candy and Dunagan, 2017), this symposium took a more relational and embodied approach. It created a space for collective remembering, reimagining, and relational meaning-making, drawing from diverse cultural, Aboriginal and Indigenous, and affective ways of knowing. It was not just an event; it was an invitation into an ongoing practice of transformation.

Co-designed and convened by Dr. Jeanne Hoffman and Dr. Elissa Farrow, the symposium was born from a dream to create a space for futures work that is grounded in tradition, inclusive in voice, embodied in practice, and regenerative in purpose.

The two-day arc with the themes of “Grounding in Tradition, Expanding Our Future Horizons” and “Collective Wisdom and Action for a Shared Future” offered a powerful rhythm. We began in reflection and rootedness, then moved toward activation and co-creation. Over the course of the gathering, we listened deeply, spoke honestly, created boldly, and moved intentionally from yearning to momentum, from insight to action.

Dr. Elissa Farrow welcomed us into the space of the symposium with a powerful and heartfelt Acknowledgement of Country, honouring the Turrbal and Jagera peoples of Meanjin (Brisbane), and the Quandamooka people of Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island), where she lives. She acknowledged their enduring connection to land, waters, skies, and stories and recognised them as the original futurists and ongoing caretakers of deep time knowledge. Her words invited us to ground our gathering in the wisdom of the world’s oldest continuing cultures, and to walk forward with respect, reciprocity, and responsibility.

Dr. Jeanne Hoffman opened the symposium by sharing the origin story of the event as a dream shared with Dr. Elissa Farrow to create a space that truly reflects the diversity, spirit, and wisdom of the Oceania futures community. Her speech welcomed participants with a reflection on why this gathering matters, weaving together the core themes of the gathering: intergenerational thinking, real-world resilience, decolonising futures, participatory storytelling, and the centrality of art, ritual, and embodiment in foresight practice.

Speaking to the unique knowledge systems of Oceania, Dr Hoffman reminded participants that the future is not predetermined, and that hope when paired with courageous action can become a powerful force for change. She posed provocative “what if” questions to inspire new possibilities, including: What if Aboriginal and Indigenous wisdom shaped the next generation of education policy, economic growth, climate policy, and governance?

She concluded with gratitude and a powerful call to carry this collective hope forward, before welcoming Aunty Denise Proud a renowned educator, author, artist, and respected Elder and Monique Proud the owner and managing director of Cultural Grounding a consultancy dedicated to embedding First Nations knowledge into the corporate, not-for-profit, and government sectors to the stage whose presence and message embodied the very spirit of the symposium: futures strengthened through intergenerational knowledge and cultural integrity.

This report traces the journey of the Oceania Futures and Foresight Symposium from its grassroots beginnings to its culmination as a vibrant, community-led gathering. It highlights the themes, voices, and methodologies that shaped the event, and reflects on how these moments point toward more relational, place-based, and justice-oriented approaches to future gatherings. Drawing from sessions, speaker insights, creative contributions, and participant reflections, the article seeks to document not just what happened, but why it mattered and what it suggests for the future of foresight and foresight gatherings in Oceania and beyond.

From Coffee to Commitment: The Story Behind the Symposium

While Dr Hoffman and Dr Farrow had both encountered many regionally based futurists at conferences and professional events, it became clear that there hadn’t been a dedicated, in-person gathering in Australia or New Zealand for quite some time. No university in the region offered a formal academic program in futures studies, and alumni of past programs were scattered across sectors and geographies. Through countless informal conversations, they heard a common refrain: people were craving connection a space to meet others from diverse disciplines and lived experiences, to share stories, and to explore new foresight practices together in person.

Having taught for eight years at Tamkang University in Taiwan one of Asia’s leading futures institutions, Dr Hoffman witnessed firsthand the depth and relevance of knowledge carried by her Pacific Islander students. Their perspectives, shaped by land, sea, story, and community, offered powerful contributions to futures thinking (Hoffman, 2019). Yet in many global foresight spaces, these worldviews remained marginalised or overlooked. The symposium emerged as a response to help shift that pattern and foster a more grounded, regionally anchored conversation about futures, one that honoured diverse cosmologies and centred local wisdom.

Dr Farrow is a volunteer and holder of community since her teenage years. As a social scientist and futurist applying foresight approaches in strategic organisational and community contexts, Dr Farrow has personally felt the power of how even one person with energy can create and hold a safe space for others to create experiences of innovation, authenticity and heart. In her research, which honours the voice of the ‘end user’ when exploring organisations and industries of the futures as a result of artificial intelligence, people she engages with express a fundamental desire to maintain and amplify human connection, choice, control and equity in service (Farrow, 2021). Images of the future and embodied metaphors created in that first meeting in late 2023 with Dr Hoffman became Open the Circle, Weave the Net, Find and Feel, Living Learning Lab, and Build the Bridges.

The first seed of the Oceania Futures & Foresight Symposium was planted, not as a large institutional event, but as a community-led offering grounded in values:

• Honouring Indigenous voices and ancestral knowledge
• Focusing on Southeast Queensland as home ground
• Uplifting regional Oceania contexts and participation
• In-person only. Not hybrid or online
• Non-profit, cost-recovered, grassroots ethos
• Good food and warm hospitality
• A highly interactive program (80% experiential), with space to talk, not be talked at
• Playful (Chen and Hoffman, 2017)

In early 2024, Dr Farrow and Dr Hoffman initiated a series of conversations to shape a regionally grounded and community-led foresight event. Initial discussions with Dr Marcus Bussey, Senior Lecturer at the University of the Sunshine Coast, brought depth and clarity to the initiative. These conversations drew on Dr Bussey’s extensive experience in spiritual, creative, and relational foresight across Oceania (Bussey, 2023). Although initial proposals were explored with universities including University of the Sunshine Coast and later the University of Southern Queensland it was decided to proceed independently, prioritising accessibility, neutrality, and cost-recovery to support equitable participation. Further consultation with Dr Cheryl Doig, a respected foresight educator in Aotearoa (New Zealand) helped sharpened the vision. Her contribution was on embedding Indigenous and local wisdom traditions, showcasing diverse applications of futures practice, fostering regional community, and strengthening intergenerational engagement.

A mid-year survey confirmed strong interest in a participatory, in-person format, with over 40 expressions of interest shaping the program’s scope and tone. With careful attention to global foresight calendars and in dialogue with regional leaders, an early April 2025 date was selected. By late 2024, planning had progressed to venue selection, with Rydges Fortitude Valley in Meanjin (Brisbane) chosen for its accessibility and capacity to host a gathering grounded in warmth, connection, and co-creation. Speaker expressions of interest in late 2024 revealed a rich diversity of themes and formats, culminating in a volunteer-led symposium program formed by February 2025. Promotion relied on organic networks and relational channels rather than formal marketing. The event reached capacity by March, a reflection of the deep appetite for futures work that is relational, decolonial, and regionally relevant.

Thematic Arc: From Grounding to Activation

The two-day event was structured around an intentional arc from grounding ourselves in Country, story, and relational ways of knowing, to activating new forms of futures practice rooted in care, responsibility, and collective agency.

Day One – Grounding in Tradition, Expanding Future Horizons

We opened the day in circle, welcomed into the space by Aunty Denise Proud and Monique Proud, proud Koa and Kuku-Yalanji women whose keynote, “Aboriginal Perspectives – Intergenerational Knowledge and Connections”, brought the entire room into a felt experience of deep time. With power, grace, and humour, they reminded us that futures are not projections ahead they are woven through story, songlines, land, and community. Theirs was not just a presentation it was an embodied act of remembering 60,000 years of history, and an invitation to walk forward with humility and respect.

This intergenerational sharing of story and images flowing between Mother and Daughter moved many deeply. This was further reflected by Dr Farrow’s expression heartfelt and tearful gratitude to both Aunty Denise and Monique and Dr. Marcus Bussey who had made this connection. Thus, the hugs and the hopefulness for the Symposium community and its intent began.

Following this powerful beginning, the morning panel, facilitated by Steph Clarke, brought together a rich mix of thinkers and practitioners: Huw Jones, Dr. Cheryl Doig, Dr. Mike McAllum, and Dr. Marcus Bussey. Each speaker offered reflections on different modes of navigation: spiritual, ancestral, ecological, and poetic. From discussions on Indigenous wayfinding and Aqua Futures to the transmission of intergenerational wisdom and the role of inner transformation and embodied movement in societal change, the conversation reminded us that the work of futures must start from the inside out.

Morning Breakout Sessions

The day continued with a series of concurrent interactive workshops that invited participants to engage their bodies, imaginations, and emotions in futures thinking:

• Live-action Geoengineering Roleplay with Dr Trish Lavery simulated the diplomatic and ethical complexities of climate intervention technologies. Participants were assigned national roles and tasked with negotiating a geoengineering treaty, offering a visceral understanding of real-world climate governance dilemmas.
• Multisensory Wellbeing Futures, led by Steph Clarke and Katy Cooper, used smell, sound, and texture to explore the future of health and wellbeing. This session moved beyond talk, inviting participants to experience potential futures through their senses.
• Human-Nature Connection through CLA, with Dr Marcelle Holdaway, explored our psychological and mythic relationships with nature using Causal Layered Analysis. Participants peeled back the layers of current environmental narratives to envision new ways of being in relationship with Earth.

Afternoon Breakout Sessions

• Dr. Camila Mozzini-Alister – The Voices of (and for) Futures explored the transformative power of marginalized voices particularly those of children and Indigenous peoples as intuitive foresight practitioners. Dr. Mozzini-Alister illustrated how everyday acts of presence and truth-telling challenge dominant societal norms. Drawing from frameworks like Foucault’s parrhesia, Sohail Inayatullah’s Six Pillars, and Frank Spencer’s ALIVE model, she invited participants to consider how embodiment, storytelling, and courage can reshape futures thinking into a more inclusive and resilient practice.
• Māori Foresight through Metaphor, facilitated by Dr Hafsa Ahmed, shared how Māori whakataukī (proverbs) and metaphoric language can guide culturally grounded futures thinking. It was a powerful reminder of how Indigenous wisdom systems already offer robust foresight frameworks.
• Rivers of Tomorrow Game, hosted by Shermon Cruz, brought a game-based futures experience rooted in water, community, and regional resilience. Designed with an emphasis on play and transformation, the session asked: What kind of river system and society are we building for tomorrow?

Day One concluded with a poetic and interdisciplinary keynote from Dr. Liz Znidersic, Helen Penridge and Dr. Marcus Bussey that reimagined futures through the lens of the Eastern Curlew, one of the world’s most endangered migratory shorebirds. Their session invited participants to rethink notions of cause, time, and space, not from a human-centred perspective, but through an ecological and more-than-human lens. Blending story, science, and embodied inquiry, they challenged us to listen differently to hear what the Eastern Curlew might be telling us about migration, belonging, loss, and the fragile interdependencies of life on Earth. It was a gentle yet profound invitation to expand our ways of knowing, and to include the voices of non-human kin in our foresight practice.

Day Two – Collective Wisdom and Action for a Shared Future

The day began with a quiet centring moment, a reflective story and interactive ritual led by Michelle Newell, who invited us to write Postcards to the Future. Michelle asked each of us to choose a single adjective a word to shape the tone of our message and guide the energy we wished to send forward. It was a moment of quiet reflection, creative intention, and emotional grounding. Michelle’s facilitation gently opened the space for emergence, reminding us that foresight is not only about systems and strategies, but also about hope, intimacy, and the courage to envision what’s possible. It set the tone beautifully for the co-created conversations that followed.

Michelle then led us into a participant-led Open Space format, which allowed attendees to shape the day’s agenda. Eleven topics were put forward and pitched. Through a collective voting process, seven were chosen (some joining forces).

Topics included:

• WILD futures – how do we facilitate futures from the edge?
• Futures of Politics – are the challenges of the futures too big for politics?
• How to translate ‘futures’ without asking ‘them’ to ‘drink the Kool-Aid™’?
• Post Futures – Futures? What if futures thinking is obsolete what comes next?
• How can we help people to image utopian futures?
• Same methods to different cultures? foresight for the global north and the global south
• How can we disrupt the current wave of unsustainable Artificial Intelligence growth?
• How can we create sustainable social cohesion?
• We want to be heard – balancing futures thinking in public policy?

Afternoon Breakout Sessions

The afternoon offered workshops and interactive sessions that brought creative and critical futures practice to life:

• Heritage Futures and Cultural Clashes with Dr Marta Botta examined the tensions between preservation and innovation, and how competing cultural narratives shape the future of place and memory.
• Futures Senses Art-Making, led by Marguerite Westacott, invited participants to explore foresight through visual expression working with colour, texture, and form to give shape to imagined futures.
• Regenerative Design for System Change, hosted by Dr Kimberly Camrass and Dr Anne Kovachevich, bridged design thinking with regenerative principles, asking how we might redesign institutions and infrastructures for long-term ecological and social wellbeing.
• Reflective Foresight and Wellbeing, with Dr Steven Lichty, offered space for participants to explore the emotional dimensions of futures work. How foresight can support mental health, resilience, and a sense of grounded purpose in times of disruption.

Closing Keynote – Collective Wisdom and Intergenerational Ambition

The symposium concluded with a keynote by Dr Cheryl Doig, provocatively titled “Collective Wisdom and Intergenerational Ambition”. Framing her address around the whakataukī “Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua”, “I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed on my past”, Dr. Doig invited us to consider what it means to lead from ancestral knowledge while acting in service of those yet to come.

Drawing on the recently adopted United Nations Pact for the Future, Cheryl explored the concept of intergenerational fairness as a practical and ethical imperative. She challenged participants to reflect on how decisions made today must be accountable not only to the present, but also to future generations, those who will inherit the consequences of our choices.

Citing Nobel Laureate Ilya Prigogine’s insight that “small islands of coherence in a sea of chaos have the capacity to shift the entire system to a higher order,” Cheryl framed the symposium itself as one such island: a moment of coherence, connection, and catalytic potential in the broader landscape of systemic uncertainty.

Her keynote wove together global policy frameworks, Māori ways of knowing, and local urban futures work, asking:

• How do our cities and institutions enact intergenerational justice?
• Where are we falling short, and what strengths can we build on?
• What forms of leadership are needed to nurture long-term wellbeing across generations?

In closing, Cheryl left the room not with answers, but with open questions, designed to deepen our sense of responsibility and collective ambition. Her message was clear: the future belongs to all of us, but especially to those not yet born. It is our task to become ancestors worth remembering.

The symposium began with an invitation to hold space for hope, not as wishful thinking, but as courageous action. From the grounding presence of Aunty Denise and Monique Proud to the closing call from Dr. Cheryl Doig, we were reminded that hope is not passive. It is embodied in story, practice, and relationship. Over two days, we listened, moved, created, questioned, and connected. We honoured our ancestors and looked to future generations. And in doing so, we became what Cheryl called for: ancestors worth remembering, participants in a living future, shaped not by prediction, but by purpose.

Methodologies and Modalities: Moving Beyond the Intellectual

Participants experienced foresight not as abstract analysis but as embodied practice. Workshops engaged all the senses. We touched, smelled, moved, and listened. We painted and danced and played games. We sat in circles and spoke from the heart. We remembered the past and futures in our bones and in our bodies. Emotional response is a necessary part of any organisational adaptation approach. It assists with the process of personally connecting to possible or real futures and building a desire or compelling reason to move toward or away from that future (Farrow, 2024).

This embodied approach echoes the call from the Asia-Pacific Futures Network (Cruz et al., 2016) for methods that are contextualised, relational, and responsive to local worldviews. It affirms the notion that futures work in Oceania must move beyond Western rationalism to include spirituality, ancestral memory, and collective emotion.

Themes That Surfaced

Across both days, a few strong themes emerged:

• Intergenerational foresight is essential for continuity across time between ancestors, present communities, and future generations. It is foundational to meaningful futures work.
• Embodiment and artistic expression were not treated as decorative or secondary, but as central modalities through which futures can be sensed, imagined, and brought into being.
• Relationality with land, each other, and more-than-human life and is the foundation of any viable future.
• Hope is a verb. It is not a passive sentiment but an active verb, requiring courage, imagination, and commitment.
• We need spaces of weirdness, where futures practitioners can play, dance, draw, use scents and sounds, question, and engage with alternative ways of knowing without constraint.

Together, these themes pointed to a futures practice that is not only strategic or analytical, but also soulful, embodied, and relational.

Reflections from the Community

Following the symposium, the energy of the event continued across the community. Feedback was effusive. Participants described the event as “the best conference ever”, “life-affirming”, “transformational”, and “a reconnection to what matters”.

• Dr Marcus Bussey coined the phrase futures bathing to describe the experience: “something akin to forest bathing – immersive, nourishing, collective”.
• Michelle Newell, who facilitated the Open Space ‘unconference’ sessions, offered a heartfelt tribute to the region’s growing foresight network, noting: “Considering there are exactly ZERO degrees in futures and foresight in Australia, we are bloody lucky to have so many brilliant academics and professionals working to advance future-preparedness.” She celebrated the tenacity and creativity of presenters from geoengineering simulations to multisensory explorations of wellbeing and reaffirmed her own commitment to integrating foresight into her practice.
• Dr Clarice Garcia shared her emerging foresight method using cultural artifacts and fashion to explore zeitgeists.
• Cassiana Buosi reflected on humanistic and regenerative futures, both thanking the event for creating space to test and share new ideas.
• For Dr. Liz Znidersic, the experience reinforced the importance of cross-disciplinary collaboration and the inclusion of non-human perspectives.
• Shermon Cruz described the gathering as “the most reflective and heart-centered foresight event” he had experienced in over a decade of futures work. He praised its emphasis on Indigenous perspectives, emotional literacy, and playful imagination. Futures that are not just forecasted, but felt, sensed, and lived.
• Steph Clarke and Katy Cooper recounted their multisensory health futures workshop, where participants used images, scent, sound, and narrative to explore what the future of health might look, feel, and smell like. For some, it was confronting; for others, liberating – a tangible shift from cognitive to embodied foresight.
• As Dr Cheryl Doig had reminded the group: our task is not simply to imagine better futures, but to become ancestors worth remembering.
• Dr Hafsa Ahmed MNZM shared her appreciation saying, “Ngā mihi nui | Thank youधन्यवाद् | شکریہ | Thanks to both of you – Elissa and Jeanne- for creating this wonderful space for sharing and reflecting about futures. The two days offered important insights into how to look back into the past as we work towards the futures”.
• Marcelle Holdaway described her reflections on the Oceania Symposium as, “resemble(ing) a kaleidoscope (observations of beautiful forms). Some dynamic shapes included working with crayons and following our hand as our guide; sharing our traumas and bringing us closer; gathering around the village well to eat, drink and connect; getting serious around operationalising futures; getting excited about a futures dictionary to share with all humans, and overall, of enjoyment and learning and looking forward to next time! This was my first experience of being amongst futures people ‘en mass’. It was rich and varied and I’m glad to have played a small part in the kaleidoscope of patterns that shifted and shone throughout the two days.”
• Katy Cooper said, “I felt joyful to sit with peers in both a big room and in small circles. I felt seen and heard (and smelt) and deeply grateful to share my work (delivered with Steph) with others. I felt deeply impacted by others work too, especially with greater understanding and connection to indigenous and aboriginal knowledge systems so often overlooked in the present let alone when futures are planned. I reflect on how I may encourage/ally with those who are sharing those knowledge systems to raise futures voices in Tasmania. It really excited me to meet so many peers working within government doing futures work”
• Steph Clarke described the two days as, “…a fulfilling and fascinating couple of days. I went away buzzing with ideas, thoughts, and new connections with good people doing interesting work. I’m oscillating between states of hope and despair, impatience and curiosity, and with a lot more questions than answers. These are exactly the kinds of spaces and conversations we all need to be cultivating and actively part of right now.”
• Brett Peppler emphasised the power of, “…coming together and sharing ideas that in some circumstances might challenge your thinking and open up a broader possibility space. This challenge and response was my experience at the Oceania Futures and Foresight Symposium 2025. We can grow as individuals but importantly we can grow as a community of foresight practitioners.”

Fig 1: Attendees of the Oceania Futures and Foresight Symposium 2025

Fig 2: Scenes of the gathering

Fig 3: Postcards to the future and selecting open space topics.

Looking Ahead: 2026 and Beyond

In the week following the symposium, a short survey was shared with attendees to gather reflections, insights, and ideas for the future. The responses echoed many of the themes that had surfaced across the two days and validated the intention behind the event and offering clear direction for what might evolve next.

Participants consistently spoke of the authenticity and emotional safety of the space. Many described it as “unlike any other conference” highlighting it non-competitive, generous, and collaborative atmosphere. The design of the event, which prioritised diverse modalities from open space sessions to creative workshops, art-making, and embodied practices was celebrated for enabling people to engage with futures thinking in more multidimensional and intuitive ways.

There was also a strong appreciation for the playfulness of the gathering. The invitation to imagine boldly, to embrace the unconventional, and to engage with foresight not just intellectually, but experientially. Several respondents named the presence of Aunty Denise and Monique Proud as particularly powerful grounding the entire event in Aboriginal and Indigenous wisdom and humour, bringing what one participant described as “serious fun.”

The curation and facilitation by Dr Elissa Farrow and Dr Jeanne Hoffman were recognised as critical to the event’s flow, coherence, and relational energy. Attendees noted how the structure and the holding space of Elissa and Jeanne created spaciousness for ideas to breathe and connections to deepen. Elissa and Jeanne felt proud of the achievement and so grateful for those who contributed their full selves to the two days.

Suggestions for future gatherings included:

• Building in more quiet, reflective time after breakout sessions, perhaps through music, nature walks, or contemplative space to support integration and rest
• 60 people made this symposium intimate, there is a risk if it gets too big, it would lose the heart and warmth that made this enriching, safe and welcoming
• Holding the symposium in venues closer to water or natural surroundings to deepen the connection to Country and spirit
• Continuing the high level of interactivity, with many noting that the 80% engagement in activity target was not only met but exceeded.

Importantly, the survey also revealed strong momentum to grow the community. Many participants expressed a desire to be involved in future symposia offering support in programming, facilitation, social media, logistics, and beyond. This willingness speaks to the shared sense of ownership and commitment that emerged during the event that this was not a one-off, but the beginning of a longer, collective journey.

Conclusion: Not Just a Symposium

The Oceania Futures and Foresight Symposium was more than a conference, it was a living expression of the futures we hope to co-create. It offered an alternative to extractive, performative, and Eurocentric foresight spaces, instead modelling a future where foresight is relational, regenerative, and real. Building on the momentum and community spirit of this year’s gathering, we’re excited to announce the proposed theme for 2026: “Wayfinders of Tomorrow: Navigating Futures Through Oceanic Knowing”. This theme honours the depth of Indigenous, Pacific, and oceanic wisdom, inviting us to meet the challenges of transformational change with ancestral guidance, creative courage, and collective care. Let this playbook serve as both a reflection and a compass. The journey is just beginning. If you’re interested in holding space, supporting, or contributing to the next Oceania Futures and Foresight Symposium, we warmly invite you to reach out. Together, we look forward to walking backward into the future with this growing community.

Fig 4: Immediate feedback at the end of day 2

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge Dr Marcus Bussey and Dr Cheryl Doig for their guidance and inspiration in shaping the success of the Oceania Futures and Foresight Symposium.

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