November Community Updates
Adventures in Futures
Inside —
Dubai Futures Forum 2024 edition with Anisah
A short note from Dr. Justine Walter, visiting scholar at Tamkang University
What’s in December Updates
Dubai Futures Forum, 2024 Edition
Lavonne and I attended the Dubai Futures Forum (DFF) 2024 as part of a Journal of Futures Studies team.
A Glimpse into DFF 2024 with Anisah
DFF 2024 was a whirlwind—two days packed with sessions and so much to absorb. If you’ve never been, this invitation-only event, which was attended by more than 2,500 people from around the globe this year, is an amazing opportunity to meet the Futures people whose names light up your LinkedIn feed.
There’s something about being in that space—whether it’s the buzz in the air or the inspiring people you meet—that gets your mind racing. I found myself thinking about our monthly meetups and planning for 2025. New ideas, new connections, and endless possibilities!
Personally, it was amazing to reunite with friends, meet people in person who were instrumental in shaping my early journey into Futures, as well as those who have supported and inspired me along the way. Very exciting indeed.
In the session Concepts of Time: How Do They Shape Our Future? I found myself captivated by the incredible ways we can rethink time. The featured projects—Jonathon Keats’ Millennium Camera and the Future Library—are profound reminders of how fleeting our perspective is. They challenge us to think about the legacy we’re leaving and how we connect with future generations who will inherit the world we shape today. By stretching our imagination across centuries, they invite us to reflect on time, transformation, and responsibility.
I was inspired by two sessions: The Control Illusion and More Than Words: What's the Future of Storytelling? Riel Miller explored how imagination is shaped by both knowing and not knowing, urging us to embrace uncertainty and differences as opportunities rather than fears. Kewulay Kamara highlighted the power of storytelling to reveal unseen perspectives and navigate unmet expectations, while Lonni Brooks showed how arts and storytelling can push beyond colonial mindsets into new futures. Omar Butti added a practical lens, sharing how Dubai TV nurtures young talent to celebrate local cultures and create fresh narratives. Together, these ideas underscored the transformative power of imagination, resilience, and storytelling in shaping our shared futures.
DFF 2024 Note from Lavonne
I think Anisah just about said it all—DFF is a whirlwind, and never more so than this third year, which expanded significantly in the number of participants and also in the covered topics, focusing more on the humanities within futures; there were sessions on futures and grief, on indigenous futures, on futuring without language. Futurists representing the Global South had a powerful presence and voice.
I also want to note how vitally important it felt—this year more than ever—to create and sustain a truly global, intergenerational conversation and exchange of ideas about the future. The goodwill in the museum and among the global participants was palpable. We were excited to meet each other, to make connections, to hash things out and build things together. Many people may be looking to “win” the future, but ultimately it is unclaimed territory, and a zone where resolutions, sharing, and new paradigms are possible. This is also the vision behind the JFS Community of Practice.
Complexity, Futures & Crises
by Dr. Justine Walter , Visiting Scholar at Tamkang University
Futures & Crisis
In November 2024, I gave a lunchtime talk on her research at Tamkang University’s Department of Education and Futures Design. After an introduction to the concept of Futures Literacy and its implications for individual and collective decision-making, I went on to demonstrate why crises are an inherent feature of any complex system and why they are likely to increase in frequency and intensity in our tightly interconnected, highly complex globalised world. By looking back at the origins of the (English) term ‘crisis’ in ancient Greek and using examples from my doctoral thesis on the management of earthquakes in earlier societies, I showed that our current understanding of crisis as a negative, problematic state that must be quickly overcome or, better still, prevented, is a relatively new interpretation. In contrast, earlier societies regarded crises as unavoidable situations that could unleash liberating potential and trigger innovation, if they were utilised correctly.
About me
I hold a PhD in Ancient History and Chinese Studies from the University of Leipzig and a Master's degree in International Human Resources Management from Rome Business School. In my consulting and training activities, I draw on extensive experience in the development and implementation of large foresight, innovation and transformation projects with SMEs and multinational corporations as well as in the design of people-centred learning experiences. From October 2024 to early 2025, I am a fellow of Hans Weißer Stiftung and a visiting scholar at Tamkang University where I am investigating the relationships between complexity, future imaginaries and coping with (poly)crisis.
I went on to argue that in order to use the liberating potential lying within the systemic, overlapping and mutually reinforcing crises of the present, we need a new kind of literacy: Crisis Literacy. This ability to anticipate and identify a crisis, understand how it may unfold, and imagine different outcomes, is closely related to futures studies as it likewise requires Systems Thinking, Futures Literacy, and Storytelling.
Experiencing futures after crisis
Following this talk, I ran two short workshops to develop crisis literacy among TKU students. Both workshops followed a speculative design approach and asked participants to design a low-fi prototype of a desirable future.
The first workshop focussed on designing the prototype of a desirable personal future of work despite crisis. Students first contemplated where, how, with whom and on what topics they would like to work in the year 2035. They were then challenged with an unexpected change and considered whether and how this simulated crisis affected their vision of their future working life.
During the second workshop, students experienced a simulation of a post-crisis future. Assuming different human and non-human roles (among them different types of AI and natural entities), the participating students formed teams and drafted policies in the fields of urban planning, demographic control and environmental protection that aimed at establishing new ways of co-living. Before concluding the workshop, everyone reflected on the implications of this experience and its connection to real-world problems.
Justine Walter is on Linkedin
Up next: Reflections and New Seasons for 2025 !
In our next issue, we’re not just wrapping up 2024—we’re gearing up for a 2025 we’re truly looking forward to, with plans for several dynamic session series. Stay tuned, and get ready for fresh ideas, bold conversations, and inspiring moments to spice the year ahead.
The JFS Futures Community is a space for practitioners, educators, and the Futures-curious to connect, share, create teaching & learning materials in making Futures literacy more accessible to a wider global community.
We meet once a month. Our meet is a casual get together - just a space for like-minded people to hang out and talk about Futures. We welcome members to host our monthly meet and talk about topics they’re mulling over, or invite guest speakers.
This is an experimental space. If you wish to give a short talk, try out a workshop or just have a casual discussion about a certain topic, feel free to email Anisah or Lavonne Leong
Teaching and Learning Materials
We publish materials for futures studies on JFS Digital. See some postings here https://jfsdigital.org/category/jfs-community-of-practice/high-school/
This is a growing library of futures thinking teaching tools that will eventually include skills and dispositions from all over the world. These resources range from semester-long curricula to exercises that can be done in an hour or less. They are for many ages and stages of readiness, and can be used by anyone.
If you have created a tool for teaching futures thinking and want to add it to our community resource pool, please reach out to one of our team.
If you are not sure where to start, let one of us know, and we’ll make a suggestion.
JFS Futures Community has a YouTube channel and a LinkedIn page
JFSCoP Youtube
JFS LinkedIn
Community Space on Discord