Prof Geci Karuri-Sebina

Geci is an African scholar-practitioner working in the intersection between people, place and technological change. She is an Associate Professor at the Wits School of Governance where she is hosting the African Civic Tech Innovation Network and establishing a Centre of Excellence in Digital Governance. She is also associated with the School of International Futures (Principal), UCT African Centre for Cities (Adjunct Prof), South African Cities Network (Associate), Singularity University (global faculty member on the future of cities and governance), the Southern African Node of the Millennium Project (founding Director), AfricaLICS (the community of innovation scholars in Africa; Vice-Chairperson), and ICESCO (incumbent Africa Chair on Innovation & Futures).

Jamie Metzl

Jamie Metzl is one of the world’s leading futurists and Founder and Chair of OneShared.World. He is author of the international bestseller, Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity, and four other books and was a member of the WHO expert advisory committee on human genome editing. His new book, The Great Biohack: Recasting Life in an age of Revolutionary Technology, will be published by Hachette in May 2024. Jamie previously served in the U.S. National Security Council, State Department, and Senate Foreign Relations Committee and with the UN in Cambodia. He holds a Ph.D. from Oxford, a law degree from Harvard, and an undergraduate degree from Brown.

Melanie Subin

Melanie Subin is Managing Director at Future Today Institute, public speaker, and a guest lecturer at New York University’s Stern School of Business. She has specializations in strategic transformation, research, and scenario development, and has deep expertise in the establishment of foresight within organizations. Ms. Subin has spent years assessing the impact of external forces such as climate change, technology, consumer preferences, and rising connectivity on the transformation of industries across the globe. In addition to general technology research, Ms. Subin studies the development of immersive technology, the metaverse, and Web3, and their impacts on human interaction and business opportunity.

Sophie Howe

Described by The Guardian as ‘the World’s First Minister for the Unborn’ and by The New Statesman as leading a Welsh plot to save the world, Sophie Howe was the first Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, the only role of its kind in the world. She held Government to account on how their decisions affect future generations and has influenced other countries to follow suit including the UN. Named as one of the UK’s Top 100 Changemakers and at number 5 in the BBC Women’s Power List, she is not afraid to call out the madness of short term decision making and is known for being a straight talking and inspirational advocate for those yet to be born.

Dr. Saeed Aldhaheri

Dr. Saeed is a futurist, thought leader, author and a public keynote speaker. He was the founder and former Director General of Emirates ID Authority and a former member of the scientific advisory committee of the UAE Space Agency. Currently, he is President of Robotics and Automation Society RAS, visiting lecturer in Responsible AI in the course: AI in the cloud and edge implementation at Oxford University, a member of the Global Future Council of the World Economic Forum on future of metaverse, and he is on industrial advisory boards of several universities in the UAE.

Sarah Owen

Sarah is a trend forecaster, futurist and social scientist with a background in studying human values and digital culture. With 13 years of experience in future trends, consumer research and communication strategy, she specialises in guiding organisations through strategic foresight, scenario planning and trend analysis. Sarah has previously worked in the USA, Australia and Europe analysing emerging trends and behavioural shifts for WGSN, consulting with Fortune 500 brands such as L’Oreal, Mars Wrigley and Intel, and writing for the likes of Kinfolk, The New York Times, WARC and i-D magazine. As an academic, she has studied Strategic Foresight at the University of Houston and has a Masters in Sociology from ISCTE in Portugal. She has presented at global events including Cannes Lions, Pause Fest, FUTR Summit and World Retail Congress, and is a member of the Association of Professional Futurists as well as the decentralized futures community, Radar.

Arthur Muliro

Arthur Muliro is Deputy Managing Director at the International Secretariat of the Society for International Development (SID) in Rome. Amongst other responsibilities, Mr. Muliro leads SID’s Futures program which works closely with diverse development stakeholders to develop future-oriented public-interest scenarios focused on institutional transition and transformation challenges and to embed a futures orientation in the work they undertake. He has successfully overseen large-scale public interest scenario projects in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania and regionally in East Africa and supported similar initiatives in the Middle East and Latin America.

Alisha Bhagat

Alisha Bhagat is a futurist and strategist whose work focuses on the creative use of futures tools such as scenarios planning, games, and immersion, to impact long term positive change. She is the Futures Lead at Forum for the Future, a sustainability non-profit where she works with organizations looking to make significant impact in systems such as food and apparel. Alisha applies her futures practice to work with organizations tackling global challenges such as poverty and public health in the hopes that we can apply a long-term lens to present-day actions. Additionally, Alisha teaches scenario planning and transdisciplinary design at Parsons School of Design. In her free time, she convenes the Diaspora Futures collective, futurists who identify as PoC and collaborate on new futures modalities.

Dr. Kaïs Hammami

Dr. Kaïs Hammami, as the Director of the Strategic Foresight Center of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), possesses an impressive academic background. He holds a Ph.D. in Strategic Foresight, which he obtained in Paris, receiving the highest honorable distinction and unanimous congratulations from the jury (Summa cum Laude).

In addition to his academic achievements, Dr. Hammami has served as the holder of the UNESCO Chair: “Foresight, Anticipation, and Strategic Decision” in both Africa and the Arab world. With a wealth of experience spanning 20 years, he has made significant contributions in five regions, including the Middle East and North Africa, Africa, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. His expertise encompasses various fields such as Strategy, Foresight, Economy, Territorial Foresight, Urban planning, Management, Philosophy, and more.

Dr. Hammami’s insights and expertise are sought after by numerous governments and international organizations, including the United Nations, UNICEF, UNESCO, UNDP, ICC, CNAM, FAO, World Bank, European Union, ILO, and OECD. Furthermore, he has taught foresight and strategic decision-making in esteemed educational institutions such as the National School of Administration, Diplomatic Institute, Sorbonne University, and Carthage University.

Throughout his career, Dr. Hammami has played an integral role in over 250 international Foresight studies. His scholarly contributions extend beyond research, with numerous academic articles, books, and publications in the field of Foresight and Strategy bearing his name. Moreover, his dedication to sharing knowledge has led him to train over 6000 individuals in these specialized domains.

Eric Noël

Canadian macro-change strategist, financier and long-term thinking advocate. His research, investment and talks focus on tomorrow’s markets and society, including business and socio-economic challenges coming from demographic, technological, climate, foreign and policy changes. Eric has advised many Fortune 100TM companies on transactions exceeding $US 30B in some 30 countries. Following a 25-year career at Oxford Analytica, Eric now splits his time between “visiting futurist” roles at asset management and global organizations, and jumpstarting new technologies. Eric is the founder of the Canada Towards 2030 foresight project and serves as Chair of the Millennium Project Canada.

Marc Buckley

Marc takes a systems view of life and addresses all facets of complex systems in order to solve human suffering and our global grand challenges. As longtime student of Ecological Economics, Regenerative Futurism, and Systems Science Marc has been involved in Climate and Environmentalism for a long time and would love to show you how to run faster than climate change by being an impactful and exponential human being. One of the first to be trained by Al Gore as a Climate Speaker he has made getting through the Climate Crisis towards Regenerative Desirable Futures his life‘s work. As an Advocate for the SDG’s, UN Advisor and Resilient Futurist, Social Innovation, Climate Change, Impact Circle: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Seafood, Agriculture, Food, and Beverage Expert Network member of the World Economic Forum, Global Food Systems Reformist, Ambassador for UN HS4A, Travelling Professor and Fellow of the World Academy of Arts and Science, Member The Futurists https://thefuturists.io/, Member of The Good Future Project (TGFP), and supported by the Futures Agency, and Regenerative Futurist. Marc is on a mission to empower billions of global citizens to live an adaptive lifestyle of health and sustainability within the safe operating spaces of our planetary boundaries. Marc has been active for over 2 decades preparing us all for the future of work and living to move us out of the Anthropocene into the Symbiocene.

Abi Nokes

Abi Nokes is the Director of Networks at the School of International Futures (SOIF) where she supports the seeding and strengthening of networks across SOIF’s work and ecosystem. This includes leading the NGFP team which serves a global network of 600+ young and emerging futures and foresight practitioners from over 90 countries working to democratise futures across a range of sectors: from democracy, to climate, to peacebuilding. Prior to joining SOIF, Abi was the CEO of an advisory and field-building non-profit focused on impact networks called inHive, where she worked with foundations, civil society organisations and youth networks to design networks that create more equitable opportunities for young people. Abi serves as a board member for a voluntary health charity in her local community in London, and as an advisor to Tāwai Takapiri Connect Futures, an education start-up she co-founded in New Zealand.

Josef Hargrave

Josef is a Director in Arup University, home to the firms strategic foresight, applied research, learning, and knowledge management programmes as well as our communities of experts working to develop new capabilities to better meet the needs of our clients and drive continuous innovation across the business. Arup University serves over 18,000 members across 140 countries. As Global Foresight Leader Josef is responsible for the delivery of foresight services, tools, and projects globally, leading a multi-disciplinary team of programme managers, designers, and consultants that specialise in trends research, design thinking, strategic planning, innovation programmes, thought leadership, and vision making for both internal and external clients. Over the past 10+ years, Josef has delivered projects in over 20 countries, working for some of the world’s leading organisations in property, technology, chemicals, mobility, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, consumer goods, and finance. Josef is a member of various executive bodies with a particular interest in corporate foresight, business strategy, enablers of innovation, and the long-term adaptation of business to new or emerging operating contexts.