Rooted in Research

April 2022 Rooted in Research Webinar

Strategic Foresight Research in the Forest Service: An Overview and Examples

Wednesday, April 13, 2022 11:00 – 12:00 noon EDT / 10:00 - 11:00 am CDT

David Bengston, Environmental Futurist and Social Scientist, and Lynne Westphal, Research Social Scientist, USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station

Strategic Foresight Research, also known as Futures Research, is a transdisciplinary social science that:

1. Uses a wide range of methods to explore possible, plausible, and preferable futures;
2. Generates foresight about how the future could be different, and
3. Applies the foresight generated to improve planning and decision making today.

This seminar will provide an overview of Futures Research and the work of the Strategic Foresight Group at the Northern Research Station and give examples of several projects and their usefulness, including the Forest Futures Horizon Scanning project.