Beyond the Horizon: Strategic Foresight Tools

Foresight and futures thinking enable individuals to consider the drivers of change that are shaping the future and the implications of these drivers on policy and decision-making. It broadens individuals’ perspectives, improves consultation and research skills, increases comfort with uncertainty, capitalises on opportunities, and optimises policy and programs for the benefit of Australians.

This learning experience will equip you with the foresight knowledge, skills, and tools necessary to engage in forecasting, better understand complex systems and build scenarios.

The duration of learning is 50 hours over 8 weeks. This includes webinars, interactive discussions, case studies, international best practice examples, practical group activities and online forums.

This learning experience has been provided by the University of New South Wales in partnership with the APS Academy, and experienced APS practitioners. It is delivered virtually by leading experts from UNSW on the UNSW Navigator platform. 

Participant benefits

• Consider how biases may hinder effective futures thinking and develop ways to mitigate them.
• Identify the appropriate use of foresight techniques and their applications based upon their strengths and limitations for a given purpose.
• Generate scenarios for a problem or opportunity that Australia may encounter and apply relevant analysis to support decision-making process for strategic planning.
• Analyse current and potential future domestic or international developments related to futures scenarios.
• Apply a range of foresight techniques to strategic planning, policy development or risk analysis.
• Effectively communicate the value, benefits and outcomes of foresight activities. 

Suitable for

All staff, in particular policy practitioners with varying levels of experience in foresight and futures.

Staff from state and territory governments are welcome to enrol. 

Considerations

• Enrolments are direct through the UNSW website.  

Skills recognition upon completion

• You will be awarded a digital badge from UNSW certifying your expertise.
• You will be given 2 credits from UNSW opening the door to the possibility of applying for academic credit in accordance with UNSW’s credit and exemptions policy. 

Category and User Level

This learning experience aligns with the Strategy, Policy and Evaluation Craft at the Practitioner level.

Price

$1650 per person. Payment made via UNSW.