What we do

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Foresight's principal aims are to foster better multilateral understanding of the key challenges facing today's major players in order to promote a fairer and more functional international order that is able to recognise and accommodate the values and preferences of the different global players. Foresight pursues these aims through a programme of events, research and publications that engage diverse constituents on the issues and challenges affecting their futures.

The Foresight working method includes a series of high-level roundtable symposia, at which different "insider" and "outsider" perspectives on a number of key global challenges are compared. The aim of these events is to identify areas where common positions between the Foresight countries/regions can be developed and thus progress made towards forging common futures. By bringing together participants from different parts of the world, these events will help build and sustain a Foresight network. The first event was held in Moscow on the 19 and 20 June. Further symposia are scheduled in Santiago de Chile, Washington DC, Berlin, New Delhi and Beijing, with further events in other regions being planned.

Alongside these roundtables, Foresight publications and research will form a continuous feature of the programme. A key aspect of this work will consist of collections of papers, written by key experts in each of the Foresight regions, which analyse specific global challenges from the different regional points of view. These collections will include a synthesis paper to help identify points of divergence and convergence.

Through these activities, Foresight plans to forge and sustain a network of leaders, policymakers and academic experts from different regions of the world who are willing to learn from one another and make use of the insights achieved in the programme to improve international dialogue, understanding and cooperation.

In our age of global interdependence, a singular discourse is no longer viable, but a nuanced and complex discourse may emerge from genuine engagement and discussion. That is the purpose of Foresight, to create a forum for engagement, discussion, critique, comparison and analysis, and in this way help forge common futures.