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Sustainable Futures: The Future We Hope For describes a sustainable future in which we use renewable resources, create new ways of working together that are inclusive, open and transparent and are shaped by shared visions for social and climate justice, and difference and diversity.   In a series of three posts we will outline the three scenarios […]

Unsustainable Futures: The Future We are Likely to Get describes an unsustainable future in which the resources we use cannot be renewed and continuing with a ‘business as usual’ approach to manage the crises the COVID-19 pandemic and fallout will mean that international, national, state and local institutions and systems will be overwhelmed. In a series […]

Chaotic Futures: The Future We Want to Avoid describes a chaotic future in which the existing crises of a pre-COVID-19 world are amplified and become unmanageable by international, national, state and local institutions and systems that are ill-equipped for responding to or managing this chaos. In a series of three posts we will outline the three […]

This post provides a link to a video where Rosie, an 18 year old young woman from Melbourne’s inner norther suburbs, talks about her life in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and her anxieties, fears, hopes and aspirations about the future.  Rosie is a young person who is articulate and passionate about politics, her education, and social justice. She has acted as a leader in televised discussions about the impacts […]

This post provides a link to a video where Carmen, a 15 year old young person who lives, works and studies across both Moreland and Yarra local government areas. Carmen shares their thoughts on schooling, the importance of their connection to the LGBT community and the role of public spaces and social groups across the inner north in her […]

The UNEVOC Centre at the School of Education, RMIT University has been funded for the next three years to deliver an applied research project which aims: To provide Geelong stakeholders with a strong evidence base over 3 years to co-design innovative interventions to foster the education and employment aspirations of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in […]

This post provides a link to a video where Ash, a 24 year old young person who identifies as gender fluid, and whose pronouns are ‘they’ and ‘them’, talks about their life in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and their anxieties, fears, hopes and aspirations about the future – for the rights of minority groups, the climate crisis, and their employment options.  […]

This post provides a link to a video where Connor, a 16 year old young man from Melbourne’s inner norther suburbs, talks about his life in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and his anxieties, fears, hopes and aspirations about the future. For many of us, Connor comes across as ‘typical’ 16 year old young […]

This post provides a link to a video where Bella, a 15 year old young woman from Melbourne’s inner norther suburbs, talks about her life in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and her anxieties, fears, hopes and aspirations about the future – for the planet, her community, and herself. Bella is a young woman […]

The Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific (SDSN AusNZPac – see below for further information) member forum on 25 November 2020 discussed what we can learn from the COVID crisis that will help us accelerate progress on the SDGs as we go forward.  The forum panel was headed by Professor Jeffrey Sachs a prominent, award winning economist, […]

We have made a number of posts about our project developing recovery scenarios for young people in Melbourne’s inner north. We recently delivered a presentation to the Inner North Youth Employment Taskforce on the conduct of the project and three draft scenarios that we will continue to edit and finalise between now and March 2021. […]

Authors: Diego Carbajo and Peter Kelly Event Horizons and Re-thinking In our first post in this series we used the analogy of COVID-19 as an ‘event-horizon’. To briefly recap, the concept of an ‘event horizon’ comes from astrophysics, but has travelled, ‘metaphorically’, into more popular usage. In astrophysics an event horizon describes that point at […]

This is a post by Rosalyn Black and Lucas Walsh. Losing the dualism A recent post to this blog by Peter Kelly suggests that young people’s relationship to the future should not be thought of in terms of dualistic notions of optimism or pessimism. It argues that young people’s scenario planning is an exercise in […]

‘So looking into the future, I would say I am scared, anxious and hopeful all at the same time, I think.’  Rosie, Year 12 student, Northcote ‘Hope is a way of dreaming up possible futures: an anticipatory virtue that permeates our lives and activates them. It is a powerful motivating force grounded not only in […]

CampusReview: Wade Zaglas and Professor Peter Kelly

Authors: Peter Kelly & James Goring Until the end of last year, we had blindly turned away from doing anything to address many of the challenges that have been laid out by science and respected commentators. Bigots in our media and parliaments have held sway and prevented much from being done. The result has been […]

Authors: Peter Kelly & James Goring Following on from Part 1 and Part 2 in this series, this post will look at what EY calls Mega-Trends In EY’s schema Megatrends emerge from the diverse, and often unpredictable, interactions of Primary Forces over the medium term future. They suggest that it is possible to identify/imagine a […]

Authors: Peter Kelly & James Goring Primary Forces Following on from Part 1 in this series, in this post we want to briefly outline what EY calls Primary Forces  Technology The focus of EY’s discussion in relation to technology is the means by which Human Augmentation (Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality) will be powered. […]

Authors: Peter Kelly & James Goring We have just launched our research project with the Inner Northern Local learning and Employment Network (IN-LLEN). The project is titled COVID-19 Recovery Scenarios for Young People in Melbourne’s Inner North. In a series of posts we want to do a number of things that are important in framing […]

Authors: James Goring & Peter Kelly In this post – which will be the first in a series of three – we want to provide some context to the problems that we hope to confront in our research initiative, COVID-19 Recovery Scenarios for Young People in Melbourne’s Inner North with the Northern Local learning and […]

Authors: Peter Kelly & James Goring RMIT University started its life as the Working Men’s College on 7 June 1887. It adopted the motto “Perita manus, mens exculta” – a skilled hand, a cultivated mind – which continues to be used by the University today. The Present – An Overhaul of Australian Tertiary Education for […]

Authors: Peter Kelly & Diego Carbajo. 100 WAYS TO SUCCEED #23 DESIGN MEANS YOU! Sure, “design” means DHL spending Gazillion$$$$ on … YELLOW. IT’S THE NEW BROWN. But that’s not all. Design means … me obsessing on line breaks and “…”s in the presentation of this Blog. Design means … me … at age 61 and […]

Gross national product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage…It counts the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and counts nuclear warheads…Yet gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of […]