The FuturePod Story
We belong to a broad and diverse international community which remains mysterious to many, and is rich and interesting with abundant wisdom to share, deep history and potentials for finding new and creative ways forward. At a time in our history when wise perspectives and new ideas are needed, we have found another way to let these voices shine.
To say what brought our small FuturePod team together is an intriguing and impossible task. Rebecca Mijat, Peter Hayward, Mendy Urie and Ana Tiquia, all members of the Melbourne, Australian foresight community, began exploratory meetings in early 2018 to find out what a project could look like, built around collecting and collating many of the eminent, individual voices of the futures and foresight community.
We would start in Australia, using a small professional recording studio for live interviews and build to include remote interview recordings of interstate and international professionals and practitioners.
Our vision, we discovered was to build a project, which would contribute to creating humane and better futures for all, through the Foresight community, with the three-fold aims of:
recognising and honouring those people who came before us and who played a major role in establishing the futures and foresight field;
supporting and promoting those in the community who are establishing themselves and furthering the contributions of our field; and
providing a place that can offer inspiration to those who wish to join us by listening to those conversations and then going out and creating their own pathway.
The team does this by combining old technologies (conversation and storytelling) and new technology (podcasting and social media) in a not-for-profit venture for the community, supported by the community.
Peter, Rebecca and Mendy are grateful for the early contributions of Ana Tiquia for her energy, experience and ideas in building the FuturePod project. A special mention also goes to our music creator, Doctor Turtle, for the song It Looks Like The Future, But It Feels Like The Past.
In early 2021, the FuturePod Team welcomed Amanda Reeves, Reanna Browne and Josh Floyd.
Meet the Team
rebecca mijat
Rebecca was first introduced to the foresight field in 2013 through Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia when she completed an Executive Program short course taught by Dr Peter Hayward, Joseph Voros and Rowena Morrow. She was instantly hooked. She completed a Masters of Strategic Foresight in 2015.
The idea of a foresight focussed podcast series, first came to mind at the end of her Masters course when Rebecca saw an opportunity to further connect the community and share the depth of knowledge locally and internationally. Three years later, the timing was right to start to bring a podcast to life through a shared vision with Peter, Mendy and early team member Ana Tiquia.
Rebecca is passionate about connecting future thinkers to create innovative approaches to our local and world challenges.
By day, Rebecca is a strategic change and communications leader who works as a management consultant, supporting Australian and global clients with engagement and change management as part of transformational change programs.
Connect with Rebecca on LinkedIn.
Peter hayward
Peter found foresight in 2001, or perhaps it found him.
What he learned studying with Richard Slaughter was a good fit with his previous systems thinking and organisational change toolkits.
A PhD followed and then fourteen happy years teaching foresight to a passionate and skilled group of people.
When his academic career ended in 2016, Peter was then free to engage with his real passions. Namely talking to his heroes, bouncing ideas around with the next generation of foresight thinkers and inspiring a new group who might want to join in.
Connect with Peter on LinkedIn.
meredith (Mendy) urie
Mendy was drawn into the enticing field of foresight when already well down a career path which had led from nursing, to local Government, to spiritual enquiry and community work in her regional home in country Victoria.
Completing an MBA and then Masters of Strategic Foresight under Dr Peter Hayward and Joseph Voros at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne in 2015, she now finds ways to bring the flavor of futures approaches to ongoing roles on the hospital board and in social enterprise, while looking out for opportunities of ‘most interestingness’ … Like the invitation to join Rebecca, Ana and Peter in the FuturePod project.
Also of special appeal currently, is to explore the potential power of conscious collaboration for decision making, for finding solutions and new knowledge.
Connect with Mendy on LinkedIn.
Amanda Reeves
In 2015 a serendipitous first date and impulsive enrolment saw Amanda join the final cohort of Swinburne University's Masters of Strategic Foresight. Learning under the guidance of Joe Voros, Peter Hayward, Brigette Engler, and Nita Cherry transformed her understanding of what it means to lead change, and set fire to her passion for facilitated practice.
After graduating in 2018, Amanda continued to create the conditions for change in healthcare organisations while also following her own direction of maximal interestingness by founding her foresight consultancy, Wabi Sabi Futures.
After closely following FuturePod's development through the first few years, Amanda was delighted by the invitation to join FuturePod in 2021. As we grow beyond 100 episodes, Amanda is curious about crafting new ways for our audience to carve their own emergent path through these conversations.
Connect with Amanda on LinkedIn, or follow her on Twitter.
Reanna browne
Like many before her, a deep and innate desire for something else drew Reanna to the practice of strategic foresight.
In 2015, she completed the post-graduate futures program at the University of the Sunshine Coast. This was the first education experience that helped her build the skills to architect a living/career and build the skills and mindsets to architect a life, and how we might want to live it together.
Seeking more, she enrolled in the Swinburne Master of Strategic Foresight in 2017. Like her USC experience, the MA program offered an illuminating and life-changing learning enquiry into herself, her work and her emerging craft.
Reanna now combines her experience in workforce planning, organisational design and development with strategic foresight.
She is the Founder of Work Futures, a consultancy that helps organisations and workers to get practical about the futures of work. To see change coming, leverage the future and act with more clarity in the present.
Connect with Reanna on LinkedIn.
Josh Floyd
Connect with Josh on LinkedIn.