The New Abnormal

Episodes

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  Soha Rashed ‘Rethinking Foresight Through an Arab Lens’ 18.08.2026 39m

  This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Soha Rashed, founder of the Arab Futures Society and a research fellow at the Carboun Institute. We spoke about the development of futures thinking across the Arab world and why the global foresight community needs to embrace a wider range of cultural perspectives. Soha describes her journey into futures studies, from studying at the Turku School of Economics in Finland to working with UNDP's global horizon-scanning network. Meeting Arab futur...
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  Clare Beaton-Wells "Using Foresight to Reimagine Australia’s Tomorrow" 07.08.2026 45m

  This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Clare Beaton-Wells, based in Melbourne, who is a Strategic Policy Advisor and Future Generations Fellowship Lead at Foundations for Tomorrow. As a leader and specialist driving systems change, intergenerational collaboration, and policy innovation, she works across civil society, government & academia to drive impactful policy and projects that advance long-term thinking, sustainability and equity. With deep experience across governm...
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  Sabrina Sullivan "Unlocking What's Next" 23.07.2026 44m

  This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features the renowned strategist / futurist / facilitator, Sabrina Sullivan. In our conversation, she discusses her unconventional journey into foresight, the importance of imagination, and the leadership capabilities needed to thrive in an increasingly uncertain world. Sabrina traces her career from consulting and sustainability into strategic foresight, describing how graduate work on climate scenarios revealed that organisations often prefer c...
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  Marie Stafford 'The Future 100, 2026' 18.07.2026 51m

  This episode of The New Abnormal podcast feature, Marie Stafford, Global Director, Intelligence at VML. In it, she spoke about the latest edition of VML’s Future 100 report and the broader forces shaping consumers, brands and culture. Unlike many annual trend reports, VML’s research is continuously updated, allowing the team to identify meaningful shifts rather than seasonal observations. The discussion centres on five macro themes underpinning this year’s report. The first, ‘Disoptimism’ cap...
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  Geci Karuri-Sebina ‘The African Foresight Network, Post-Activism, and Interconnected Capacities’ 17.07.2026 47m

  This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features the Johannesburg-based ‘thinker, researcher, and sometimes do-er’ Geci Karuri-Sebina, who is an Assoc Professor at the WITS Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, Organiser at the Civic Tech Innovation Network, and Chair / Director of the Southern African Node of the Millennium Project. In what I hope you'll agree is a fascinating conversation, she discussed rethinking futures, activism, and development through more pluralistic and imaginativ...
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  Julian Boulding 'The Cannes Review 2026' 16.07.2026 50m

  This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Julian Boulding, Owner of TheNetworkOne. The organisation works with over 1000 agencies in over 100 countries, providing ‘open-source creativity’ and communications services from independent agencies for a growing number of leading international marketing companies. They also help independent agencies develop their own business internationally, through providing international partners, consulting resources and professional development programs...
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  Clare Stark 'Futures Literacy: Building Better Decisions for an Uncertain World' 01.07.2026 45m

  This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Clare Stark, Head of Futures Literacy and Foresight at UNESCO - the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. They’re a specialized UN agency dedicated to promoting world peace and security through international collaboration in education, arts, sciences, and culture. Headquartered in Paris, its mission spans 194 member states and encompasses several focus areas. Key Initiatives include World Heritage Sites, Global Educ...
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  Fatima-Zahra Ma-el-ainin 'Foresight, Social Transformation and Systemic Wellbeing' 08.06.2026 43m

  This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Fatima-Zahra Ma-el-ainin, who is a psychologist, poet, and narrative architect reimagining how societies cultivate wellbeing. Her work sits at the intersection of systems work, knowledge design, and social transformation, informed by more than a decade of experience in systems mapping, programme design, and conversational leadership. Through global commissions, institutional partnerships, and field-building initiatives, she develops fram...
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  Mark Bloomfield 'Making Sense of AI' 06.05.2026 40m

  This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Dr Mark Bloomfield, who has leveraged AI and advanced technology for over fifteen years to drive innovation, transformation, and measurable impact across an array of businesses. Operating at the intersection of business, technology, and academia, he now works across multiple industries, advising organisations on how to apply AI and emerging technologies for real commercial impact with measurable results. As a Fellow at Cambridge Judge ...
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  Tommaso Cesano 'The future role of design' 30.04.2026 45m

  This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Tommaso Cesano, Founder of Osmo, a Strategy+Design studio focused on creating impactful products and experiences, aiming to build products for clients that can 'change their tomorrow'. Based in Italy, this award-winning studio works with ambitious companies who wish to be innovators in their industries. They believe in 'Curiosity, Adventurism, and Effort'. Along with their work for leading-edge companies, one of the many dynamic things t...
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  Jonas Drechsel ‘Futurist Archetypes and Futures Thinking’ 20.04.2026 33m

  This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features the independent futurist Jonas Drechsel, who is also a member and co-initiator of the dynamic collective practice youngK Berlin; which is interdisciplinary, exploratory, and holistic. His mission as a solo freelance futurist is to make desirable futures more likely. As a critical futurist, he thinks about how the status quo works and what doesn't. As a real utopian, Jonas participates in the creation of exemplary projects that anticipate a bet...
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  Alice Dimond 'Building Hopeful Futures' 15.04.2026 31m

  Series Six This episode of The New Abnormal features Alice Dimond, who leads Mō Āpōpō Future-Makers at Tokona te Raki, a project that equips young people to imagine and create better futures. This includes designing a toolkit grounded in Māori perspectives and stories, empowering young people to use these perspectives to navigate complexity and drive transformative change. In addition, she's a Fellow with Next Generation Foresight Practitioners, an Advisory Trustee at Ako Ōtautah...
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  Marianna Maki-Teeri 'Futures Intelligence and AI-Native Foresight' 08.04.2026 40m

  This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Marianna Maki-Teeri, Director of Foresight at Futures Platform. She’s an internationally recognized futurist with 15 years of experience in strategic foresight & futures studies, and helps organizations around the world make sense of change before it happens. At Futures Platform, Marianna leads an analysis team in translating emerging signals and “what ifs” into actionable insights, while advising clients on building and scaling thei...
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  Mikko Dufva 'Megatrends 2026 - towards a new social contract' 25.03.2026 48m

  This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Mikko Dufva, the Leading Foresight Specialist at Sitra. Mikko works on projects across an array of areas including those related to the futures of synthetic biology, platform economies, forestry, mining and use of renewable energy. Sitra is a future-orientated organisation that promotes Finland’s competitiveness and the well-being of the Finnish people. They specialise in anticipating societal change, trying out new operating models and ...
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  Ramila Khafaji Zadeh 'The liberation of Imagination' 10.03.2026 49m

  This episode of the New Abnormal podcast features Ramila Khafaji Zadeh, who is a trainer and designer in Futures Literacy at Hanze University of Applied Sciences and part of the UNESCO Chair in Futures Literacy. She leads projects with governments, industry, higher education, and NGOs, and has previously worked with the UN on futures-oriented initiatives. With expertise in social innovation and governance, her current work focuses on transitions and how being futures-oriented, as a capa...
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  Warren Hatch 'Superforecasting - how to see the future first' 27.02.2026 39m

  This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features the renowned superforecaster Warren Hatch, CEO of Good Judgement Inc. He joined the organisation as a volunteer forecaster in a research project sponsored by the US government / funded by the intelligence community, where they emerged as the undisputed victor re: geopolitical forecasting. Warren then became a 'Superforecaster' and is now CEO of the commercial successor, Good Judgment Inc, a world leader in applying innovative proba...
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  Maija Knutti 'Developing Futures-Orientated Policies' 26.02.2026 37m

  This episode of 'The New Abnormal' podcast features Maija Knutti, a Policy Analyst in the EU Policy Lab Foresight Team, which is part of the European Commission Joint Research Centre. As Maija explains, it's a collaborative place for innovative policymaking, which is intended to help policymakers think holistically and long-term. She goes into real detail in this episode about what her role entails, and in doing so explains the approaches taken and ranges of outputs delivered re: the ES...
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  Muhammad Alaraby 'Futurists & Foresight in the Arab World' 16.02.2026 44m

  This episode of 'The New Abnormal' podcast features Muhammad Alaraby, an award-winning Arab futurist, policy analyst, and editor. He's also Head of Strategic Foresight at the independent think tank Future for Advanced Research and Studies (FARAS), which seeks to enrich public dialogue, support decision-making and enhance academic research pertaining to futures-issues that currently constitute a real problem in the Middle East region. In light of instability and unpredictability, the ove...
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  Lisa Giuliani 'Teach the Future: a bridge to action' 09.02.2026 36m

  This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Lisa Giuliani M.A., who is an experienced educator with over ten years of work in higher education, K-12, the private sector, and nonprofits. Dedicated to empowering young people and organizations through futures literacy, Lisa currently serves as the Director of the Young Voices Network at Teach the Future, which is based in the US but operates globally. Passionate about intergenerational equity, making futures thinking accessible...
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  Deborah Hayek 'An expert guide to Corporate Foresight' 04.02.2026 40m

  This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Deborah Hayek, who leads Foresight & Innovation at Servus Credit Union, in Canada. She brings over a decade of experience integrating strategic foresight into business strategy within major financial institutions. Previously, at the forefront of Manulife's Global Innovation team, Deborah served as Head of Strategic Foresight, driving foresight initiatives across business lines and shaping innovation strategy through macro trend analysis an...