EMPOWERING FUTURES
– Long-term Governance, Democracy and Futures Research
There is an urgent need for long-term futures thinking in order to sustain possibilities for alternative and creative solutions to complex crises and empower futures. For the next Futures Conference, we will gather in Turku to discuss about the futures of democracy, trust, power and sustainability, which are tightly connected to these crises.
Visions make it possible to create a future that is different from the present although its seeds are in the present.
— Eleonora Barbieri Masini, 2006
The forthcoming event will focus on questions such as:
How can the scientific community contribute to empowering futures? What and whose futures are being empowered, and by whom?
What impacts climate change, security threats and wars could have on democracy?
How can futures research help enable and empower just transitions, and how may just transitions impact our futures?
What are the scientific contributions in identifying risks and opportunities and in building sustainable futures?
How can current and potential social gaps be fulfilled?
How to study complex futures?
What kinds of new theoretical and methodological contributions futures research can establish?
Latest Conference News:
Share your participation with friends and colleagues
We invite you to share your participation or the workshop you are organising with your friends, colleagues and community to inspire also others to join the event. You can download some social media assets from this page.
Keep readingGuidelines for Speakers and Facilitators are available
Are you presenting your work at the conference? Please read through the guidelines for the presentations and workshops either to be held onsite or virtually. We hope you do your best to follow the guidelines to help make the conference…
Keep readingPreliminary Programme at a Glance is updated
Preliminary programme is now updated on the conference website. We are starting with two onsite days on 14 and 15 June following with a full virtual conference day on Friday 16 June. More detailed session programme will be available later…
Keep readingCall for Research Articles: Special Issue of the Journal Futures & Foresight Science
We are pleased to inform you that the Futures & Foresight Science journal invites scholars to submit manuscripts of research articles in the Special Issue on “Empowering Futures – Long-term Governance, Democracy and Futures Research”. The call is open and limited to…
Keep readingRegistration is open – early-bird fees are valid until 23 April
All the conference fees are now updated on this site. Note that the deadline for ’early-bird’ registrations is due no later than 23 April 2023. The conference organisation puts great effort into making the conference affordable to a wide audience.…
Keep reading
Call for Papers, Posters and Workshops is now open!
There is an urgent need for long-term futures thinking in order to sustain possibilities for alternative and creative solutions to complex crises and empower futures. For the next Futures Conference, we will gather in Turku to discuss about the futures…
Keep reading
Welcoming the first confirmed Keynote Speakers
We are honoured to confirm the first names for the Conference Keynote speeches: You can read more about our speakers here. Welcome!
Keep reading
Read about what we did last summer
The 22nd Futures Conference focused on the wide variety of ways people imagine futures and wellbeing in our societies. We invited participants to think of the current changes and challenges in the world in a planetary scale. ‘Planetary Futures of Health…
Keep reading
Welcome to the Futures Conference 2023!
The ‘Empowering Futures’ international conference will create a cross-disciplinary science platform where participants can meet, share, and discuss new ideas concerning futures, democracy, trust and responsibility. The conference program will consist of keynote lectures, parallel sessions, participatory workshops and a…
Keep reading
EMPOWERING FUTURES – Long-term Governance, Democracy and Futures Research 