School of International Futures (SOIF) is excited to announce an expansion of its work in the United States and the rest of the Americas, building on its strengths in areas of intergenerational fairness and anticipatory governance.
Karthick Ramakrishnan joins SOIF as Strategy Lead for the Americas and Suzette Brooks Masters joins the team as US Adviser. Ramakrishnan is professor of public policy at the University of California and former director of California 100, a two-year initiative to create a vision and roadmap for the state’s long-term future. He will add to SOIF’s leadership in the field of intergenerational fairness (IGF) assessments and in the deployment of toolkits that strengthen the strategy work of leaders in government agencies and community organisations.
Suzette Brooks Masters leads the Better Futures Project at Democracy Funders Network, seeking to apply foresight and imagination to reinvigorating American democracy and ushering in its next chapter. She brings extensive experience in social entrepreneurship, philanthropy, policy advocacy and network weaving, and is the author of Imagining Better Futures for American Democracy.
Ramakrishnan and Brooks Masters are part of an expanded team and set of partnerships at SOIF that strengthen the practice of foresight in public policy and governance. Earlier this year, SOIF welcomed Sophie Howe, the world’s first Future Generations Commissioner as Future Governance Adviser. She brings her experience from Wales, the first country to legislate to protect the interests of future generations and to transform policy towards wellbeing to support the Futures Pioneers Network – a cohort of similar government agency officials from a variety of countries who are looking to build 21st century prepared governance.
This collective body of work will be critical for countries, organisations, and communities to take full advantage of the United Nations’ Summit of the Future scheduled for September 2024—where member countries have committed to adopting a Pact for the Future “to cement collective agreements and to showcase global solidarity for current and future generations.” SOIF is preparing to play a catalytic and supportive role in helping leaders, researchers, and practitioners strengthen and expand on the work of the UN Summit and other related efforts to build better futures.
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