Foresight’s role is to help government think systematically about the future. We use the latest scientific and other evidence combined with futures analysis to tackle complex issues and help policymakers make decisions affecting our future.
Our work makes a critical contribution to meeting important challenges of the 21st century - such as food security, flooding and obesity.
- Foresight Projects are in-depth studies examining major issues 20-80 years in the future.
- The Foresight Horizon Scanning Centre does short projects looking at discrete issues across the entire public policy spectrum.
- Our Toolkits and Networks look to strengthen futures thinking capacity and share best practice within and across government.
Foresight reports directly to the Government Chief Scientific Adviser and the Cabinet Office. It is a part of the Government Office for Science within the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills.
Latest news
17 August 2010: Food security: Feeding the world in 2050
Commissioned by the Foresight project on Global Food and Farming Futures, The Royal Society has published a collection of 21 reviews of the major drivers affecting the food system up to 2050. Topics include factors affecting the demand for food, trends in future food supply, exogenous factors affecting the food system such as climate change and competition for natural resources. This special edition brings together high quality evidence from international experts and concludes that sustainable food production is possible.
Read the reviews to find out more.
15 July 2010: Foresight Programme strategic futures online training tool
The Foresight Horizon Scanning Centre has created an online version of its popular strategic futures training. The training tool is aimed at strategists, policy makers, planners and operational staff responsible for shaping or implementing strategy so they can make better decisions about the future. The online tool complements Foresight's role in encouraging long term thinking and evidence-based analysis throughout government and public sector organisations.
Take the training.
11 June 2010: 2009 Annual Review published
Foresight's annual review highlights our activities and how our work is used by government in 2009 and beyond. The publication includes examples of national and international impact and the publication of Land Use Futures.
Read the review.