Foresight project Land Use Futures launches final report

The report, a two-year study involving over 300 experts in subjects ranging from ecology, economics, planning and geography, outlines that a new approach to managing the UK’s land will be vital to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

View the outputs from the project.

Our Impact

You can now easily stay up to date with how Foresight has made an impact on policy change, both in the UK and internationally by visiting the new 'Our Impact' section in the main menu.

See how Foresight projects have successfully informed policy.

The Challenge of Feeding 9 Billion People

Government Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor John Beddington and experts from the Foresight project Global Food and Farming Futures have set out five strategies to combat the problem of how to feed a growing global population in the international journal Science. The population is expected to rise to 9 billion by 2050, more than 30 percent higher than today. Professor John Beddington outlined how world food production can be increased in an interview with the Today Programme on BBC radio 4.

Listen Again on the BBC site.

International Dimensions of Climate Change

This week saw the official launch of a new joint project between Foresight and Defra. The International Dimensions of Climate Change project will look at how global changes in climate will affect the UK.

Global Governance: Future trends and challenges

A high-level conference asking 'Is there a shared understanding of the future of governance institutions?' and many other questions takes place at Wilton Park, Sussex on 11-13 January, where speakers include Professor John Beddington, Chief Scientific Adviser, Baroness Ann Taylor, Minister for International Defence and Security and Philip Bobbitt, Herbert Wechsler Professor of Jurisprudence, Colombia Law School, New York. Delegates are expected from twenty countries.

This event follows on from last year's 'International Future Challenges and Opportunities' conference, and Foresight is again playing an important part in planning the conference, alongside the FCO, DFID, MoD and Cabinet Office. We will post a Conference report during February. View last year's report.

More information can be found on the Wilton Park website.

Foresight project lead expert appears on BBC Radio 4

One of the lead experts from the Foresight project Mental Capital and Wellbeing, Professor Barbara Sahakian, joined eminent scientists Richard Dawkins, Sir Roy Anderson and Professor John Shepherd on Start the Week with Andrew Marr on 28 December 2009, Radio 4.

Listen again to progamme.

New FAN Club newsletter - September 2009

The Foresight Horizon Scanning Centre published the latest newsletter for the Future Analysts Network. The September issue features articles on UK climate projections, the Perfect Storm and the plight of the bumble bee.

Read it now.

Guidance on analysing the future for policy development

The Foresight Horizon Scanning Centre has published a short guide outlining how futures techniques can be used for policy development.

View the guidance document.

This follows on from our recent guidance note on scenario planning.

View the scenarios guidance note.

Are you looking to widen your horizons?

We are advertising three internships within Foresight. The posts will last between two to three months from Christmas time. This is an excellent opportunity to gain experience of working across a range of projects In a Government setting. Successful applicants will be quick learners, organised and will be able to work in a team.

NOTE: the closing date has now passed

New scenario guidance published

Foresight's new guidance note for policymakers explains the nuts and bolts of a important futures technique called scenario planning.

Read the guidance.

Piling on the pounds - Foresight in Business Voice

In the October issue of Business Voice, Dr Susan Jebb one of the lead experts from the Foresight report, talks about the issues surrounding obesity and how it affects the UK population.

See the article.

New project announced

Foresight's latest project will examine how future environmental change could affect human migration around the world.

Read the press release and find out more about the project.

New workshops for Global Food and Farming Futures

The Foresight project Global Food and Farming Futures held two workshops this month.

Find out more.

New book on Mental Capital and Wellbeing

The lead experts from the Foresight project Mental Capital and Wellbeing have written a major new reference book based on the findings of the final report.

The book offers a comprehensive exploration of how mental capital and wellbeing operate over the lifespan; how experiences in the family, in school, at work and following retirement augment or reduce mental capital and wellbeing, and the impact that this has for the individual and for the welfare and economic progress of the nation.

For more information and instructions on how to order a copy, please click here.

Latest FANClub newsletter available

The newsletter from the May FANClub meeting is now available.

View the newsletter here.

Infectious diseases monitoring in Africa boosted

Wellcome Trust has donated £30 million to strengthen research capacity in Africa, including its ability to monitor infectious diseases. The recently established regional disease surveillance network called SACIDS (Southern African Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance) will receive some of the funding.

Based on the key findings of the Foresight study 'Infectious Diseases: Preparing for the Future’, SACIDS is the first regional network to embrace the idea of 'One Health' by linking 25 human and animal health institutions in Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and South Africa. Over time, it hopes to include other countries from the Southern African Development Community (SADC)

SACIDS was developed through meetings with key stakeholders over a period of over two years. Its mission is to harness innovation in science and technology in order to improve Southern Africa's capacity to detect, identify and monitor infectious diseases of humans, animals and plants. By sharing data, experience, training, and tools, the countries participating in SACIDS can raise the quality and capacity of infectious disease surveillance for the entire region.

More information about the Wellcome Trust donation can be found here.
More information about Infectious Diseases: Preparing for the Future can be found here.

Take Shape

Foresight has developed educational resources to help teenagers understand how to maintain a healthy weight in today's society. Take Shape communicates the main findings from the 'Tackling Obesities; Future Choices' project and will be available for teachers to use within the school curriculum. The materials can be downloaded here.

World Trade Scenarios published

The Foresight Horizon Scanning Centre has looked ahead to 2020 to understand how world trade might change. Commissioned by the Government's Trade Policy Unit as part of World Trade Week UK, the scenarios were used to stimulate discussion and debate at the opening conference.

Click here to find out more about World Trade Week.
Click here to download the scenarios. (pdf format)

Click below to view the video presentations of the scenarios shown at the World Trade Week UK Conference (on YouTube)

Scenarios 1 and 2 (Global Innovation and Global Citizen)

Scenarios 3 and 4 (Fragile Alliances and Deglobalisation)

Foresight invited to the Strategy Unit

Lead experts from the project Mental Capital and Wellbeing were invited to the Strategy Unit to present some of the key findings from the report. Professors Cary Cooper and Rachel Jenkins spoke about how effectively improve wellbeing at work and manage mental ill-health in society.

The presentation can be accessed here:
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/strategy/seminars/mental_health_wellbeing.aspx

Valuing our life support systems

Foresight is sponsoring the Natural Capital Initiative event 'Valuing our life support systems'. The three day symposium is exploring the health of our environment and looking at the challenges of an ecosystems approach.
To find out more about the iniative click here.

Current Foresight projects Land Use Futuresand Global Food and Farming Futures are exploring how to use an ecosystems approach in their work. Click on the project name to find out more about their work.

2008 Annual Review published

Foresight's annual review highlights our activities and achievements during 2008, including the two reports published in the autumn.

Click here to find out more about our projects and futures work. (Adobe PDF 2mb)

Latest FANClub Newsletter Available

The newsletter from the February FANClub meeting is now available to download in PDF format. (4mb)

Download the newsletter here.

Obesity policy: international perspectives and opportunities

Foresight, in collaboration with the Science and Innovation Network and the Cross-Government Obesity Unit, hosted a workshop on 'Obesity policy: international perspectives and opportunities'.

Leading policy makers from around Europe were invited to Lancaster House, London, to discuss the challenge of tackling obesity. The workshop highlighted the Foresight report Tackling Obesities: Future Choices, published in 2007. The report informed the Cross Government Obesity Unit's Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: a cross-government strategy for England, published in 2008. In particular, this workshop sought to underscore the importance of a strong scientific evidence base when developing policy to tackle the complex challenge of obesity.

To find out more information about the workshop, please contact foresightweb@dius.gsi.gov.uk

International Foresight workshop 17-19 February 2009

Foresight hosted a three-day international workshop to explore and share best practice for governments to achieve impact.

Several leading government foresight protagonists from around the world contributed to this event, which took place in Buckinghamshire, UK. The event recognised the increasingly global nature of many of the challenges facing us and examined the priorities of international foresight programmes and where they might converge, how they achieve success and how we can develop best practice in achieving impact.

To find out more information about the workshop, please contact foresightweb@dius.gsi.gov.uk

New Foresight Global Food and Farming Futures project webpages available now

"How can a future global population of 9 billion people all be fed healthily and sustainably?"

Motivated by a number of major challenges facing the future of food and farming, the new Foresight project will be guided by the above question and aims to launch its findings in October 2010.

The project will look out to 2050 and take a global view of the food system; considering issues of demand, production and supply as well as broader environmental issues.

The project webpages can be viewed here.

Read the Press Release here.

Focus on the wallflowers

Professor John Beddington describes buildings as the wallflowers of the climate change problem. Read his guest column about the Sustainable Energy Management and the Built Environment project in the FT's Clean Energy supplement here.

GETTING OUR HOUSES IN ORDER
Following the publication of the Sustainable Energy Management and the Built Environment project, Professor John Beddington argues in Prospect magazine this month that a major rethink is needed about the way we use energy and if we really want to sustain the planet, we must first fix the leaky buildings where we live, work and play.
To read the full article, click here.

FANClub November Newsletter

The FAN Club is a forum where those who have an interest in horizon scanning and futures analysis can meet to exchange new ideas, innovative thinking and good practice. It is sponsored by the Horizon Scanning Centre in the Government Office for Science and is a key ingredient of the capacity raising programme.

Read the November newsletter.