Knowlab Participants


Aidan Eyakuze, an economist, is a founding director of Serengeti Advisers Limited, a Tanzania-based regional advisory firm in economic and public policy, corporate finance and media analysis. He maintains a keen intellectual and professional interest in economic policy, financial markets and emerging trends in information and communications technologies and their impact on society. Read more
Alioune Sall is the Founder and Executive Director of the African Futures Institute, a Pan-African think-tank established in 2004 and specialized in foresight exercises, research and capacity development. The Institute is headquartered in Pretoria (South Africa) and has provided technical support to more than 20 African countries engaged in long term perspectives studies or operationalisation thereof. Read more

Anumita Raj is a Senior Program Manager responsible for the Asia region. She leads the diverse team of the South Asia Security Unit, among other responsibilities in Asia. She has led the horizon scanning project of vital security, political, diplomatic and related issues pertaining to the South Asian region. Earlier Anumita was the Joint Coordinator of Horizon Scanning Unit (Asia). Read more
Barbara Torggler has been working as a Principal Evaluation Specialist in the Evaluation Section of UNESCO’s Internal Oversight Service since 2009, where she is in charge of managing and conducting evaluations of UNESCO’s policies and programmes and of related activities.  Read more

C.D. Glin joined the Rockefeller Foundation in July 2011. As Associate Director based in the Africa Regional Office in Nairobi, Kenya, Glin supports and leads the development and execution of several initiatives. He serves as the regional champion for the Foundations initiatives in strengthening food security, agribusiness and the building of resilience to the devastating effects of climate change to enable real, sustainable and equitable economic growth. Prior to joining Rockefeller, Glin was a presidential appointee in the Obama Administration where he served as the first Director of Intergovernmental Affairs and Global Partnerships for the U.S. Peace Corps. Read more
Claudia Juech is associate vice president and managing director for Strategic Research at The Rockefeller Foundation. She joined The Rockefeller Foundation in 2007 and currently leads the work to maximize insight—both internally and externally—from the various channels the Foundation uses to learn about new ideas.  Read more

Cristiano Cagnin (PhD) is an advisor at the Center for Strategic Studies and Management Science, Technology and Innovation (CGEE) who has previously worked at the EU Commission DG JRC-IPTS as a scientific officer.  He is actively working on national and international projects related to sustainability across diverse thematic areas, RTDI and regional coordination and joint programming, and in supporting policy making through the early identification of weak signals of emerging issues and implications for policy design and implementation. Read more
Emanuele Cuccillato is Policy Analyst at the Foresight and Behavioural Insights Unit of the Joint Research Center (JRC) of the European Commission since May 2014. Emanuele has a background in Forestry and Geographic Information Systems. His research interests include the design of collective intelligence processes, anticipatory systems, policy evaluation and interdisciplinary approaches. Read more

Ekkehard Ernst is Chief of the Macro-economic Policy Unit at the International Labour Organization, where he is responsible for producing the new World Employment and Social Outlook, the ILO's annual flagship publication on global and regional labour market projections. His unit also develops macro-economic models to analyse and understand policy options for countries to improve the employment record and decent work conditions. Read more 
Fabiana Scapolo holds a PhD on Foresight methodologies and practices from the Manchester University (UK) and she has a degree on Political Sciences from the University of Milan (Italy). She is working at the European Commission Directorate General Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Brussels in the Unit on Science Advice to Policy, where she is team-leader on Foresight and Horizon scanning activities of the JRC.  Read more

Faizal Karmali is the Associate Director of Innovation and Networks at the Rockefeller Foundation. He has 15 years of international experience working on social and economic development investments. He spent nearly a decade working with the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) and its affiliates based in South and Central Asia, Europe and East Africa, including time working with the Department of Diplomatic Affairs at the Secretariat of His Highness the Aga Khan. In his time with the AKDN, Faizal was involved in assessing, supporting and implementing a wide diversity of investments that spanned sectors including energy, aviation, media, health and education. Read more.
Fred Carden is an experienced development professional who has built an international reputation for his work in evaluation. Fred Carden has lived, worked and managed complex projects in several parts of the world. His experience is global with extensive experience in South and Southeast Asia, and East Africa. In April 2013 he joined the Knowledge Sector Initiative in Indonesia where he supports the program as Lead Technical Advisor.  Read more

As a Partner at IDEO, Fred Dust works with leaders and change agents to unlock the potential of innovation networks in business, government, and society. During his tenure, Fred has taken Nike executives shopping, helped to guide the realization of a future-focused education center at Stanford University, and collaborated with patients and staff to build innovative service models for the Mayo Clinic and Kaiser Permanente. He’s also collaborated with the American Red Cross to redesign its donation experience and done foundational work with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau establishing citizen-centered strategies and structures to implement them. Read more
Professor Ivana Milojević is a researcher, writer and educator with a professional background in the fields of sociology, education, gender, peace and futures studies. Born in the former-Yugoslavia, she is currently dual Australian and Serbian citizen. Dr Milojević splits her time between Sunshine Coast, Australia, where she is Adjunct Professor (University of the Sunshine Coast, Faculty of Arts and Business) and Novi Sad, Serbia where she has been Visiting Professor at the Association of Centres for Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Studies and Research since 2008. Read more

Jacques Plouin currently works as a strategic foresight specialist in UNESCO for the Africa Department. Prior to this function, he has worked in the field of foresight in UNESCO on such areas as sustainable development, science policies, cultural development, education and risk management.  Mr. Plouin’s fields of academic activity include social theory and the governance of globalization. Read more
Jennifer Rudkin is an Independent Designer and Researcher currently developing a PhD thesis in the Design Department of the Politecnico di Milano, Italy, working on the convergences between Anticipation and Design disciplines, with particular attention to the methods and tools used to identify and manipulate signs of change in the front end of innovation.  Read more

Principal Researcher, Futures, Nesta. Jessica Bland leads Technology Futures research at the UK’s innovation foundation, Nesta. Through a combination of research papers, events and media work, her programme supports the responsible development of disruptive technology. She organises Hot Topics events on emerging technologies. Jessica published a report on horizon scanning and foresight methods in 2013: Don't stop thinking about tomorrow: a modest defence of futurology. Read more
John H. Matthews is the Co-Chair for the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA), which is hosted by the World Bank and the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) and supported by the US Army Corps of Engineers, SIWI, and Conservation International. His work integrates climate change adaptation policy and science into practical implementation for sustainable natural resource management, infrastructure operations, and economic development. John has worked on five continents and some twenty-five countries.Read more

John A. Sweeney is Deputy Director of the Center for Postnormal Policy and Futures Studies at East-West University in Chicago, IL (http://cppfs.eastwest.edu) and a Researcher at the Hawaii Research Center for Futures Studies (http://www.futures.hawaii.edu). He is also a PhD Candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Hawai`i at Mānoa (UHM) where he has instructed undergraduate courses in Futures Studies, Political Science, and World Religions. Read more
Judith Aidoo is Chief Executive of Caswell Capital Partners Limited (“Caswell”), an Accra based merchant bank. She has been a private investor and entrepreneur, as well as a financial advisor to international institutions and multinational corporations for over 25 years. Her current focus is private investment in financial services; commodities trading; real estate; and education.Read more

Katell Le Goulven is currently the Chief of Policy Planning at UNICEF where she was previously in charge of Multilateral Affairs. Her preceding assignment was with the United Nations Secretary General's High Level Panel on Global Sustainability. She enjoys working at the interface between research and decision-making. She has over 15 years of professional experience in development and international cooperation, and has worked with NGOs, research institutes, governments and international organizations. Read more
Kewulay Kamara, internationally renowned poet/ storyteller, multi-media artist, development pioneer and lecturer, has been the subject of three feature articles in The New York Times and has appeared on A&E Television, Public Television and other major media outlets. Kewulay has performed at The Cathedral of St John the Divine, The Kitchen, Symphony Space, Gerald Lynch Theater, City Center, The Museum of Natural History and Oxford University... Read more

Leyla Kjazim is a Project Assistant at UNESCO in the Social and Human Sciences department. She has a master’s degree in Business Engineering where she specialized in Operations Management at the University of Ghent in Belgium. She also obtained an advanced master in Conflict and Development from the same university for which she conducted research in Bangladesh and Istanbul.
Lydia Garrido is a social anthropologist specialized in Social Change, Sustainable Development and Resilience. Research Professor in FLACSO Uy (Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales). She is currently associate director of the Laboratorio de Futuros in FLACSO. As a practitioner of anthropology of anticipation she pays special attention to emergent processes in contemporary societies and how communities perceive and use the future... Read more

Mario Bazan Executive Director of FORO Nacional Internacional, a Peruvian Think-Link-Act Tank working in the fields of democratic governance, sustainable development, science, technology and innovation policies, strategic planning and financing for development. Mario Bazán has worked as consultant and advisor to the ministries of Environment, Social Inclusion, Economics and Finance, and the National Science, Technology and Innovation Council.Read more
Maya Van Leemput attained a Ph.D. from the University of Westminster, for her research on “Visions of the Future on Television.” in 02001. Since then she has nurtured a collection of images of the future.Her activities gravitate towards the themes of media, culture, arts, (inter-cultural) communication, development, science and technology in society and urban environments. Read more

Michael Lesnick is a founder and Senior Partner of Meridian Institute. He has more than 25 years of experience designing and facilitating collaborative processes and strategy assessment and planning activities. Dr. Lesnick has worked domestically and internationally across a range of issues, including: environmental quality, national and homeland security, international development, science and technology policy, agriculture, disaster resilience, natural resource management, energy, and climate change. Read more   Mine Pabari. Mine is a Programme Manager in the field of sustainable development and natural resource management, with a specific focus on the eastern and southern Africa countries. As the Deputy Regional Director of IUCN’s eastern and southern Africa Programme, Mine has a leadership role in the region, working closely with the Regional Director in change management, including but not limited to, the coordination of strategic reviews and the implementation of recommendations, while having particular responsibility for leading a cohesive and integrated Programme of work.

Nadia EL-Imam is the Founding Director and CEO of Edgeryders, a network of 2300 citizen experts in 40+ countries and social enterprise with the same name. Edgeryders are experimenting all sorts of cutting-edge innovation: open source software, eco-friendly communities, non-transactional economies, protest movements, cryptocurrencies, urban agriculture, nomadic lifestyles, mutual emotional support in the face of a tough environment, sharing economies. Together, they form a community cultivating its own collective intelligence, based on unique technologies, methodologies, and data strategy.
Nathaniel James, Founder, Philanthrogeek. James is a social entrepreneur and activist. He is the founder of Philanthrogeek, an online publication and consultancy for leaders making sense and seizing opportunities in the new, social giving landscape. He also serves as the engagement strategist for “Money and Life,” a feature-length documentary scheduled for release in 2013; founded the Seattle chapter of the Awesome Foundation; and launched the Adventures in New Giving project. He is a Rockwood Leadership Institute Fellow.

As Associate Director at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Asia Office, Natalie Phaholyothin manages the Transforming Health Systems (THS) Initiative in Asia which includes two focus countries, Bangladesh and Vietnam. THS aims to support countries towards achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC). She facilitated and guided the institutionalization process of a regional disease surveillance network – the Mekong Basin Disease Surveillance Network (MBDS) - into a legal entity, which is now the MBDS Foundation. Read more
Peter has a research background in Ecological System Analyses (MSc. 1996, PhD candidate 1996-1999, KU Leuven BE). His professional challenge is to connect science, technology and society. Peter has more than 15 years of scientific experience in designing, managing and evaluating European and regional projects in Integrated Assessment, Foresight, Strategic Road Mapping and Horizon Scanning.Read more

Rachel Bergenfield is an Associate with the Strategic Research Department at The Rockefeller Foundation where she and her team work to identify and assess innovative, new opportunities to make transformative impacts on pressing global challenges. She served as the manager of the Knowledge Lab grant. Rachel joined the Foundation from the boutique, West Africa-focused investment advisory firm Serengeti Capital, where she was a Vice President. She has worked in strategy, advisory, and evaluation roles throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, in addition to Central Asia, India, and the US, with Innovations for Poverty Action, USAID, National Democratic Institute (NDI), ACTED, and her award-winning social enterprise start-up Collaborative Transitions Africa. Ms. Bergenfield holds a MA in International Relations from Yale University, where she was a Merit Scholar and served as Research Assistant to former World Bank President Mr. James Wolfensohn, and a BA with honors from Tufts University. Read more
Richard Sandford is an education researcher with a focus on technology and the future. He works with schools, technologists, policy-makers and students to explore new ways of teaching and learning through design research, events and games. Based in Singapore, he has designed and facilitated foresight workshops on the future of work, education and innovation across Asia, the US and Europe, for government agencies, NGOs, and private companies.Read more

Riel Miller works at UNESCO in Paris. His primary expertise is in designing processes that use the imaginary future to understand the present. For three decades his work has concentrated on how to assess and direct the potential for socio-economic transformation in the private and public sectors. He has championed the development of the Discipline of Anticipation as a way to advance the capacity to use the future. Read more
Roumiana Gotseva is Managing Director of the Center for Strategic Foresight, a think-tank and consulting group specializing in long-term thinking, futures research, horizon scanning, scenario planning, strategy and organizational consulting for corporate and public sector clients. Formerly with Foresight Alliance as founding partner, and Social Technologies, she has shifted her focus from ‘futures-as-destinations’ to futures as ongoing conversations in the ‘here & now’. Read more

Sara Farley is Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of the Global Knowledge Initiative (GKI). An internationally recognized science, technology and innovation strategist, Sara’s strategy work and analysis have been commissioned and published by preeminent innovation and development organizations worldwide, including the World Bank, the United Nations Commission on Trade and Development, the African Development Bank, the G8, and many others. Read more
Professor Sohail Inayatullah is a political scientist at the Graduate Institute of Futures Studies, Tamkang University, Taiwan and adjunct professor at the Faculty of Arts and Business, the University of the Sunshine Coast. He is also an associate with Mt Eliza Executive Education, Melbourne Business School, where he co-teaches a bi-annual course titled, "Futures thinking and strategy development.” Read more

Susannah Fisher is a Senior Researcher in the Climate Change Group at the International Institute for Environment and Development, a UK-based research and policy institute, where she works on action research projects to support national and sub-national governments to adapt to climate change in different contexts. Her areas of focus are the monitoring and evaluation of climate change adaptation including measuring vulnerability and resilience, and national and urban planning for climate change. Read more
Tanja Hichert is a South African futurist with specialised skills in scenario planning, facilitating strategic conversations and horizon scanning. She has business background, having spent 15 years mostly in the field of strategic planning, working for multi-national corporations. Her consultancy now supplies strategy futures services to South African and international clients in a wide range of industries. Her public sector work, in association with the SA Institute for International Affairs, (Africa’s top-rated think tank) includes projects on, amongst others, sub-Saharan trade agreement futures and the future of agriculture in Africa. Read more

Vincent Defourny is the Director of the Division of Cooperation with Extrabudgetary Funding sources, the responsible division for mobilizing voluntary contributions for UNESCO. UNESCO staff since 1997, he was first evaluation specialist for projects and programmes, then became the first editorial coordinator of UNESCO Web and the chief editor of The UNESCO Courier. From 2006 to 2011, he was UNESCO representative in Brazil Read more
The Strategic Foresight Team at the World Economic Forum convenes and supports global stakeholders across sectors to better understand and address complex, long term issues. Projects Trudi has worked on include the future of Mongolia, Russia, health and gender parity. Read more

Young-jin Choi joined 3M's corporate venture capital team as an investment manager and technology scout back in 2010, with a focus on environmental technologies and advanced materials. Prior to joining 3M, he worked for several years as a strategy consultant at Monitor Group on strategic marketing, regional development and growth strategy projects in a variety of industries and regions. Read more