Futures Research Project
University of Houston Masters Program_ Fall 2023

Futures Research / University of Houston Masters Program - Fall 2023

Jen Stumbles | #2341941 | jstumbles@uh.edu

Jen Stumbles

Sydney, Australia.

Made in Sydney

Futures Research

This exploratory futures project represents my major assessment for the Fall 2023 Futures Research component of the Masters of Foresight Program at University of Houston.

Nov 2023.

About

I'm an interdisciplinary strategist with a passion for futures research, scenario planning and storytelling. I've worked in future-facing strategy roles across various categories, helping clients develop innovation strategies for growth. I’ve also worked as a strategic disruption planner across brand, product, and service development.

I’m a big believer in the transformative power of deep curiosity, provocative thinking, and creative imagination as tools for problem-solving and resilience building.

I’m currently studying my Masters of Strategic Foresight at the University of Houston to further develop the ways in which we might reimagine and catalyse alternate positive sustainable human futures. 

Areas of Interest

Education as an emergent system

Will school education will eventually reform as an emergent system with technology embedded as a key shaping force?


What if . . we framed education as an example of chaos theory? That is to say, a system which exhibits adaptive patterns of self-organization under conditions which on the surface appear chaotic. How then, might we foster a greater degree of integration, interconnectedness, empathy and synergy between the two functionally interdependent but largely disconnected systems of teaching and learning?


The opportunity presented by technology’s role in this chaotic system, is that it offers the possibility of a new system. One which is necessarily more dynamic, flexible and more importantly emergent, inviting the possibility of  new imagined futures.

Will school education will eventually reform as an emergent system with technology embedded as a key shaping force?


What if . . we framed education as an example of chaos theory? That is to say, a system which exhibits adaptive patterns of self-organization under conditions which on the surface appear chaotic. How then, might we foster a greater degree of integration, interconnectedness, empathy and synergy between the two functionally interdependent but largely disconnected systems of teaching and learning?


The opportunity presented by technology’s role in this chaotic system, is that it offers the possibility of a new system. One which is necessarily more dynamic, flexible and more importantly emergent, inviting the possibility of  new imagined futures.

Will school education will eventually reform as an emergent system with technology embedded as a key shaping force?


What if . . we framed education as an example of chaos theory? That is to say, a system which exhibits adaptive patterns of self-organization under conditions which on the surface appear chaotic. How then, might we foster a greater degree of integration, interconnectedness, empathy and synergy between the two functionally interdependent but largely disconnected systems of teaching and learning?


The opportunity presented by technology’s role in this chaotic system, is that it offers the possibility of a new system. One which is necessarily more dynamic, flexible and more importantly emergent, inviting the possibility of  new imagined futures.

Critical Leverage Points in the Housing Affordability System

The ever-increasing cost of housing means that stable long term housing is out of reach for many Australians. Given the multidimensional nature of this complex problem, it’s helpful to understand both housing affordability as a system itself; and also to identify the sub-systems operating within it.


By viewing this complex problem as a systems challenge, we can identify more clearly both the major constraints of the current system and the critical leverage points that must be addressed in order to effect any real change.

Distributed Political Organising

The spontaneous combustion of community-driven voices movements and grassroots progressive political campaigning is the future; and yet, in many ways politics is still pretty analog.


The good news is that the social media and technologies that connect us all, are catalysing structural shifts and changes within grassroots community action groups all over the world. They are inviting ordinary people into important conversations and enabling us all to access and understand information in new ways that might previously have been too difficult or complex to engage with.


But to affect real change demands something of ordinary people like us. It demands that we step in from the sidelines to join the conversation.