The Futures of Community

Invitation: Bath Spa University invites you to join us on 25th November for an afternoon laboratory with The Emergence Academy, exploring the Futures of Community.Developed at Hawkwood Centre for Future Thinking by UNESCO Futures Literacy Chair Loes Damhof, and immersive artist Alex Lambie, Emergence Academy weaves together Futures Literacy and Sensitivity for Emergence. Through collective enquiry, rigorous imagination and open attention, we will explore different futures to discover new questions, perspectives and possibilities for the present. The laboratory offers a practical experience of how these capabilities can help us meet uncertainty, change and complexity with greater awareness, agility, imagination and discernment.What if how we solve the problem is the problem? The future is uncertain, and life is complex and continually changing. We cannot eliminate uncertainty or "solve" complexity. Instead, we need to develop our capacities to work with them. Futures Literacy is the capability to use multiple futures to innovate in the present. It encompasses most of the so called 21st century skills: collaboration, sense-making, dialogue and critical thinking, to help us recognise the assumptions shaping how we imagine 'the future'. By exploring multiple futures, we can loosen inherited narratives, perceive the present differently and discover possibilities we would otherwise overlook. Sensitivity for Emergence draws upon our innate, yet often dormant, capacity to remain in the space between not-knowing and knowing. Through open attention, we become more able to notice what is unfolding within and around us before rushing to interpret or act. Together, these capabilities expand both our imagination and our sensitivity for what is emerging beyond familiar assumptions and established ways of seeing.What you will take awayAn understanding of the fundamentals of Futures Literacy, including its applications and benefits
First-hand experience of a Futures Literacy Laboratory and its approach to rigorous imagination
Practical experience of Sensitivity for Emergence and how it can deepen our relationship with uncertainty
Ways of bringing greater novelty, understanding and regenerative possibility into everyday life and workParticipant Feedback
"It was life transforming. I fully took on the learning and felt some realisations shift in me about both my capabilities as a leader and as a human being.""It was active, experiential, experimental, challenging, rewarding. I left with more embedded learning than I thought probable."
"An amazing dive into FL. I discovered new ways to change mindset, practice the capability to be with uncertainty and to be more deeply in contact with myself and nature"More about Futures LiteracyThe future is imaginary, yet we use her every day: we plan, strategise, design, innovate, improve, fear and hope. When we anticipate we often apply subconscious assumptions as we extrapolate from the past to plan, predict and prepare. This has a large impact on individual and collective behaviour in the present, as we repeat past mistakes and unwittingly 'innovate' towards 'stuck' narratives that persist within the status quo. Futures Literacy is the capacity to 'unstick' those narratives by exploring multiple futures, identifying our sub-conscious assumptions in order to discover new frames of view, and therefore enhance our perception of what is possible in the present.More about Sensitivity for EmergenceWe live amid more information, possibility and change than we can ever fully know. Yet cultural preferences for certainty can narrow our attention towards what we already recognise, expect or believe we can control. Life is not inert, waiting solely for our direction. It is continually unfolding through relationships, processes and regenerative capacities that extend far beyond human intention and agency. Sensitivity for Emergence broadens our awareness of and within this unfolding. Rather than rushing to name, interpret or act upon what arises, we develop a more attentive and discerning relationship with change. This can help us sense how, when and whether to participate, and discover responses beyond those we might otherwise have imagined.Meet the teamLoes Damhof is a UNESCO Chair on Futures Literacy (FL) in Higher Education at Hanze University. She researches the impact of FL and trains and consults staff of global organizations such as FutureWomenX, UNESCO, UNFCCC, ClimateKIC, Museum of Tomorrow, UN, Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies and Oxfam. She is a Future Fellow at Hawkwood College, a steering committee member of the Futures Oriented Museum Synergies, and an editor for The Journal of Futures Studies.Alex Lambie is an immersive artist creating experiences that invite us to listen beyond the pressure to know. Through immersive art, storytelling, and participatory inquiry, he invites experiences that draw on our innate sensitivity for emergence, allowing new or forgotten perspectives and understanding to unfold. His work has been experienced internationally through installations, workshops, and deep-dives, including at the Royal Society of Arts, Museum of Tomorrow, and Museum of Discovery. He is a Fellow at Hawkwood College, an RSA Fellow, and a UNESCO Futures Literacy Fellow of Storytelling.Chair: Prof. Penny Hay