Joseph Jaworski
Next Generation Foresight Practitioners Award 2019

An annual award recognising the next generation’s endeavours in shaping the future. Apply before 31 May 2019.

NGFP2019

Announcing the 2019 Awards

Following the success of the 2018 Awards SOIF are very excited to announce the return of the Joseph Jaworski Next Generation Foresight Practitioners Award..

Last year we received over 75 applications from 37 different nationalities, from Azerbaijan to Zambia. This year we are hoping to reach out to even more next generation practitioners.

In addition to our Main Award of USD 25000 we will soon be announcing details of our 2019 Special Awards with exciting news on additional funded awards.

Thinking about applying, register for one of our upcoming webinars to find out more, a chance to ask questions and insights from the team, judges and previous winners.

“As Joseph Jaworski once said, "the future is not fixed, so it can be shaped". That's why Foresight is so relevant in this our admirable world of uncertainty and complexity. Its potential to explore alternative futures give us an extra motive to aspire a better world, designing wiser decisions and improving strategies, leadership and collaboration leaving no one behind.”

Fátima Azevedo -General Secretariat of the Ministry of the Environment, Portugal

“[This award] engages head-on with the cliche'd tautological notion that "youth are the future"; it practically encourages and recognises young people's ideas and agency in foresight and development.”

Geci Karuri-Sebina - Southern African Node of the Millennium Project

“It’s often said that without foresight, we are all condemned to repeat the errors of the past. Fortunately we have an up-and-coming generation that has already figured out the importance of foresight and is helping to save the world.”

Mathew Burrows - Atlantic Council, Washington DC

“We should all be concerned about [the future] because we will have to spend the rest of our lives there!”

Danièle Rechard - European Parliamentary Research Service

“The NGFP award is a great opportunity to further your foresight initiatives and contribute to design and build better futures in your communities”

Monica Mendez – Strategic thinker specialist in Mexican public sector

“Foresight inspires many, but this award potentially takes Futures thinking to the next level by creating systemic support for innovation”

Sohail Inayatullah - UNESCO

“In a rapidly changing world, humanitarian action needs to use ALL the tools and techniques we can, so that we are future-proofing our work. Foresight – both strategic and operational – is critical for us – and we need to be more engaged!”

Rahul Chandran - Global Alliance for Humanitarian Innovation

“I am delighted to support the Joseph Jaworski Next Generation Foresight Practitioners Award and to be part of encouraging and mentoring emerging talent in the field of Foresight. As we engage with a global transition to create a better world for all, this award recognises the new ideas, methods and innovative Foresight practices being developed by the next generation of futures-thinkers to shape their future, their way.”

Anita Sykes-Kelleher - The Centre for Australian Foresight

“Inspiring others to explore the broad spectrum of futures and embrace their uncertainties is close to my heart - it leads to a prepared and preventive humanity with empowered and dignified individuals. The Joseph Jaworski Next Generation Foresight Practitioners Award aims to identify such individuals, to recognise their innovation and change ideas, to support next steps and to share their knowledge across generations, geographies and disciplines - a futures catalyst for individuals and the ecosystem”

Daniel Dobos - Co-president of the gluoNNet association

“We stand today at a bifurcation point, where future of human species can go either way. At no time foresight has been as important as it is today. Grooming young persons to be foresight professional is very crucial”

Prabhat Ranjan - D Y Patil International University

“I don’t think there has ever been a more crucial time than now for encouraging, supporting, and training the next generation of foresight practitioners as the world faces unprecedented challenges, on the one hand, and we have never “known” as much about the the opportunities and dangers facing civilization, on the other.”

Banning Garrett - Singularity University

"People coming together to discuss their futures in an informed and deliberative way is a profound act of political empowerment. One that is increasingly critical to humanity creating a positive common future over this century: one that is sustainable, secure, just, with no-one left behind, as described in the 2030 global goals. We established this award because we want to recognise and support the excellent work shaping the future that is already being done by young foresight practitioners and activists globally, and collaborate in its transformational potential."

Cat Tully - School of International Futures

Congratulations

2018 Winners

SOIF are very excited to announce the winners of the Joseph Jaworski Next Generation Foresight Practitioners Award.

We received a strong field of applications from over 40 different nationalities, from Azerbaijan to Zambia. A big thank you to all of you who applied as well as to our fantastic panel of judges.

The applications were so fantastic we have not only awarded a main winner but have a runner-up and 12 Special Awardees.

We would like to thank all of you who took the time to apply, we were honoured and inspired by the quality and diversity of your applications and proposals.

Find out more

Find out about last years' winners

And a big thank you to our 2018 partner

We're incredibly grateful to Omidyar Network for their support in shaping and funding the first ever NGFP award, and for their support the next generation of futurists.

"Omidyar Network is excited to support the Next Generation Foresight Practitioner Award 2018. Young people will inherit the present and mould the future - they will need to harness emerging opportunities and tackle looming risks facing communities globally. This generation already has the vision and energy - we hope efforts like these will empower it to have voice on the global stage, and create a platform to seek change to build a future that is bright, inclusive, diverse and empowering.”

Why

Foresight

Why

Foresight and the 2019 Awards

Who we want to support

The world is changing and as it does we need new sources of inspiration and innovation. Change will come from many arenas and peoples. It will come from a new generation, millennials, with new aspirations and values. But equally from new geographies, with a growing foresight practice in Africa and Asia. As well as second and third career practitioners entering the field from other domains, with fresh ideas and approaches from across civil society, business and creative industries.

The Joseph Jaworski Next Generation Foresight Practitioners Award aims to identify these innovators and support them in their endeavours.

How we want to support

The Award will provide one winner with $25k funding to develop a new foresight initiative, and support Special Awardees to develop both personally and professionally. With our long term aim to create a global sensing-network of future-alert activists. It will provide a platform to showcase innovative practice from around the world.

Foresight is a systematic way of engaging with uncertainty, through the exploration of alternative futures, including aspirational ones. As a discipline it has the potential to shape the future. It is not about predicting the future, but understanding your current and future operating environment. Insights gained from foresight equip communities and organisations to recognise and respond to emerging threats and opportunities by developing enhanced competitiveness, resilience and agility.

A foresight practitioner is anyone who takes a futures approach to their work to explore and understand the impacts of longer-term factors and drivers of change on the future, to better understand how different futures might evolve, and to generate insights for decisions made today.

Next-generation Foresight

What we are looking for

Examples of innovative Strategic Foresight practice we hope to hear about include:

Community Futures.
Next generation approaches to driving participation and empowering communities

Sustainable Futures.
New approaches to sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Innovative Methods.
From digital to design thinking, from ethnography to performance.

Foresight with Impact.
Changing the conversation and direction using futures and foresight.

Process

Apply online

Application:	Applications are now open. Apply before 31 May 2019
Selection:	Entries will be screened and assessed by an International judging panel
Award:	Winners will be announced in July 2019

Visit apply.nextgenforesight.org to start your application

Eligibility Criteria

Qualifying individuals must:

Be between 18 and 35 years old at the time of entry or have fewer than ten years’ experience working in strategic foresight.
Be actively studying or working to develop innovative foresight practice.
Be commited to foresight with impact, purpose and with people at the heart of the future
Be actively studying or working to develop innovative foresight practice”
Become ambassadors within their own communities

Apply online

Awards

Main Award

The Winner will receive:

A years’ incubator funding worth USD 25,000
Free attendance at SOIF’s Summer foresight retreat (SOIF2018) 5-9 August 2019 – learn foresight with impact with an international group of policymakers, futurists and expert strategists
Quarterly mentoring sessions from SOIF and partners
Support to develop your project – as well as access to partnering and networking opportunities through SOIF’s network

Special Awards

A number of special awards will be made to recognise innovative practice (exciting news coming soon).

Geographic awards: One award to for each of Africa, Asia, Europe, N. America, S. America and Oceania

Sectoral awards. We are seeking support to offer awards to:

Innovators working in the field in communities and the humanitarian sector
Policy makers in local, national or international roles
Academics, students and educators
Entrepreneurs

Special Awardees will benefit from partnering and networking opportunities through SOIF’s network and will be invited to take part in a series of initiatives aimed at sharing best practice amongst futurists and foresight practitioners

All qualifying entrants will

Be invited to join a new global “Sensing Network”
Benefit from opportunities to showcase their work online and in print

Webinar Series

Thinking about applying. Maximise your chances of success by joining one of our webinars

Each month as you work towards your applications, we'll be holding one or more webinars to give you a chance to learn more, to ask questions of the awards team, and hear insights from our judges and 2018 awardees.

Our next webinar takes place on 16 May, 09:30 GMT+1:00.

Catch up on the previous webinars

Webinar 1 (February): Click to watch

Special guests: Maggie Greyson, NGFP Special Awardee (North America) and Monica Mendez, 2018 Judge and Public Sector Specialist.

Webinar 2 (January): Click to watch

Special guests: Pupul Bisht, NGFP Main Award Winner 2018, and Peter Bishop, 2019 Judge and Founder of Teach the Future.

Webinar 3 (February 2018): Click to watch

Special guests: Erica Bol, NGFP Special Awardee (Education), and John Sweeney, 2019 Judge and Assistant Professor at Narxos University and Director at QRIFS.

Webinar 4 (March 6): Click to watch

Special guests: Aline Roldan, NGFP Special Awardee (South America), and Anita Sykes Kelleher, 2019 Judge and Chief Foresighter at Designer Futures.