Duanduan Hsieh Contributors, Design, Develop

Shakil Ahmed

Associate Director of Alumni Impact
Teach for Bangladesh

Presentation | How do you create an educational movement?

Shakil Ahmed is currently Associate Director of Alumni Impact at Teach for Bangladesh. Energized by his passion for education, futures and story-telling, he emphasizes the importance of creating, sharing and teaching stories of positive, alternative futures as key to paving long-term impact in shaping a brighter future. He has been conducting workshops and giving talks on diverse fields of interest ranging from understanding education, educational futures, foresight planning, analytical thinking, experiential learning, Socratic questioning, mindfulness in schools, storytelling, educational technology, design of learning spaces, etc. He has a Masters in Educational Planning, Leadership and Management from BRAC University and a Bachelors of Science in Theoretical Physics from National University of Singapore. He has previously worked in LogicMills (Singapore), the BRAC Institute of Educational Development and Dhaka Tribune. Outside work, he explores storytelling media such as theater, performance poetry, comedy, workshops and creative writing.

Duanduan Hsieh Contributors, Design, Futurist, Organiser

Cornelia Daheim

Foresight Consultant
Future Impacts Consulting

Game session | Foresight game centred on “Future Disruptions”

Cornelia Daheim is a foresight expert and consultant, founder and principal of Future Impacts. Since 2000, she has been leading corporate foresight projects for corporate customers such as Alstom, Evonik, SKT or BASF, up to CEO level, and public sector projects, e.g. within the framework of international as well as European research networks, with customers such as the Korean innovation institute STEPI or the European Commission. Recently, her topic focus was on the future of work, societal change, and the future of energy and mobility. Recent published projects include scenarios on precision agriculture for the European Parliament, the study “Jobs and Skills – Work 2030” for UKCES, or a study on the “Future of Work 2050” by the Millennium Project published with Bertelsmann Foundation. Ms. Daheim has experience in foresight assignments in Europe, the US and Asia, and has spoken on foresight and future trends on all continents. In 2003, she founded and has since acted as head of the Millennium Project’s German Node – the MP is the world’s largest continuous foresight NGO working on future global change. She is also the President of the Foresight Europe Network, aiming to advance foresight in Europe.

The session introduces a game focused on possible disruptions, and participants will experience the game by playing it themselves. Set up as a board game, it uses gaming techniques such as randomisation and competition, and players can “score” by identifying credible and plausible future disruptions.

Duanduan Hsieh Contributors, Design, Futurist, Organiser

Kim De Vidts

Futures Researcher
Open Time, Erasmus University College Brussels

Presentation | Creating artifacts from four futures of Brussels 2060.

Kim De Vidts is a structural futures researcher at the centre of expertise “Applied Futures Research – Open Time”, at the Erasmus University College in Brussels. While instructing political science at Hawaii Pacific University and working for the American Intelligence community, she equally completed her PhD. This under the direct mentorship of Jim Dator at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where her interest in two of her passions thrived: the application of the Manoa approach, and the in-depth study of contemporary and futures notions of nationalism and the concept of identity within a European context. Kim’s past professional experiences in both change management and futures studies allow her to manage expectations within both domains, while facilitating a convergence between both if so desired. 

This presentation revisits notions of civic versus ethnic nationalism to envision what the future of identity may develop into by 2060 applying the Manoa School of Futures Studies’ four generic futures methodology, bringing in an ID card as an artifact from the future.

Duanduan Hsieh Contributors, Design, Futurist

Bridgette Engeler

Pracademic
Swinburne University; Incognito Sum

Trackmaker | The anomaly of design innovation in a post-growth and post-human world

Bridgette is a pracademic working across design, foresight and innovation at Swinburne University. Her work combines prospective thinking, research and strategy at the nexus of culture, futures, design and technology. Bridgette is the foresight lead for Geldom, a project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to develop the next generation condom.

Functionally and aesthetically, what is imagined we will be using, building and living in 25 years or more from today is mostly very different from now, yet in most ways those images are still grounded in our current paradigms of living, consuming, construction and community, with insufficient attention to feasibility and practicality.

Duanduan Hsieh Contributors, Design, Futurist

Nourhan Hegazy

Foresight Analyst/Idea Couture
OCAD University

Presentation | Generations : Assembly line of aging and meandering river

Nourhan is a design and foresight analyst enthusiastic about social and environmental impact. She’s worked on various multi-stakeholder projects that range from engaging women in tech to the future of giving, aging and nature. She previously lead an interdisciplinary design program in-between Cairo and Berlin as well as taught design research and human factors at OCAD University in Toronto. Nourhan has a B.Sc. (with high honors) in Product Design from the German University in Cairo and an MDes in Strategic Foresight and Innovation from OCAD University.

Generations : Assembly line of aging and meandering river

Duanduan Hsieh Contributors, Design, Futurist

Kelly Kornet

Foresight Researcher
Kalypso

Presentation | Ethnographic Experiential Futures: Combining ethnographic and experiential approaches to foresight

Kelly is a Toronto-based consultant at Kalypso that works to inspire creativity and curiosity in clients by leading them through breakthrough innovation methods. She brings three years of experience as a researcher with expertise in foresight and design thinking. Kelly supports the Strategic Foresight team within the Strategy & Operations practice at Kalypso where she provides research, analysis and facilitation for clients in the process manufacturing industry. Prior to Kalypso, she worked at KerrSmith, a multidisciplinary innovation studio in Toronto and gained experience in the public and private sector with clients including Munich Re, the Ministry of Transportation Ontario, TD Bank, Creative State Michigan and Metrolinx. Kelly has a Master’s degree in Strategic Foresight and Innovation from OCAD University and is a member of the Association of Professional Futurists and the World Futures Studies Federation. Her thesis and corresponding exhibition “Causing an Effect: Activists, Uncertainty and Images of the Future” explored the intersection of ethnography and experiential futures through the lens of environmental activism. Committed to socializing longterm thinking and innovative futures work, Kelly supports the World Futures Studies Federation as Creative Director of their biannual publication “Human Futures”.

Duanduan Hsieh Contributors, Design, Futurist

Stefanie Ollenburg

Futurist and Designer
Freie Universität Berlin

Presentation | A Model for Design and Futures Studies

Stefanie Ollenburg, lives in Berlin, Germany. She works as a consulting futurist and a communication designer, aiming to translate innovative ideas into real life projects. She also lectures at the Humboldt University in Berlin and the FH Münster on design and future studies. After Stefanie received her B.F.A. (Bachelor of Fine Arts) in advertising design from the Academy of Art University, San Francisco, CA (USA) she worked as an art and creative director for international agencies in New York, Vienna and Berlin. But her aspiration to support sustainability projects drove Stefanie to go back to school. She studied at the Freie University in Berlin and received her M.A. in Futures Studies. Currently Stefanie also works pro-bono in the project: “D2030 – a map for the future” (d2030.de). It is an open-source scenario process to show the risks and possibilities for Germany until the year 2030. Its objective is to nationally establish an active dialog about these future scenarios. Stefanie’s goal is to generate an understanding of futures thinking within groups and organizations, because: We need to keep in mind that today’s decisions affect how the future will become. And different plots i.e. actions will create different narratives of the futures.

This presentation proposes a model for a process that recognises that transformation needs both futures studies ánd design: a mindset that is open for alternatives and different viewpoints and ideas to create something tangible to result in projects that are visionary yet reachable.

Duanduan Hsieh Contributors, Design, Futurist

Björn Theis

Foresight Manager
Evonik Creavis GmbH

Game session | Foresight game centred on “Future Disruptions”

Björn Theis is Foresight Manager at Evonik Creavis GmbH, the strategic innovation unit of Evonik AG. Here, he is currently heading the Corporate Foresight project “GameChanger”. Björn Theis also teaches future studies at Freie Universität Berlin. His currently research interest is bringing the voice of “common people” into discourses about the future by applying methods of culture anthropology. He previously worked as a senior foresight consultant at Z_punkt GmbH.


Using gaming techniques such as randomisation and competition, players then “attack” each building block, supported by a set of cards, and can “score” by identifying credible and plausible future disruptions. At the end of the game, many parts of the system will have been changed by possible future disruptions.

Duanduan Hsieh Contributors, Design, Futurist

Maheen Zaidi

Co-Founder; Masters Student
The Innovation Shop; OCAD University

Experiential | Prodigy AI
Presentation | Building a Better World Through Science Fiction

Maheen is co-founder of The Innovation Shop, a design consultancy in Toronto. She specializes in strategic foresight, systemic design, transition design, and narrative design. She is completing a Masters of Design in Strategic Foresight and Innovation from OCAD University, and has an Honours Bachelor of Business Administration from York University. Her thesis explores the intersection of civilizational foresight, transition design, and science fiction. A staunch believer that language is a critical medium of design and that foresight should be ambient, Maheen is a science fiction writer. In her previous life, she was a marketing executive who worked with multi-nationals, startups, and scale-ups to build brand equity.

Join us as we unveil the next generation of AI companions. At Gepetto Inc., we have spent the past 10 years developing a revolutionary toy that is more human than human. It walks, it talks, it feels, and it plays. Prodigy will transform your child’s life.

‘Prodigy’ is designed to examine the themes of artificial intelligence and the inevitable complexities that arise from the relationships between humans and anthropomorphized devices. Though most depictions of AI are dystopian, there are more nuanced and complex plausibilities that could emerge–ones that do not involve destruction but will challenge what it means to be human. How will we reconcile contrasting notions of ‘human’ and how will our decisions impact our lives? Are we prepared for this uncertain future? This 20-minute experiential future will be followed by a group discussion to critically examine the implication of such a future.

‘Building a Better World Through Science Fiction’ is an exploration of why science fiction literature does not prescribe models of change that inform social innovation and civilizational foresight.