Today, we are learning from Suzanne Whitby.
Suzanne is a pragmatic optimist dedicated to co-creating hopeful, sustainable futures. A futurer, facilitator, communicator and storyteller, she leads Futures Fit, a futures & foresight consultancy that empowers businesses and communities to use the future to drive tangible change today. She is also the founder of SciComm Success, where she helps scientists and researchers communicate research results and impact, shining a light on the innovation and creativity essential for building better futures.
Suzanne is an interdisciplinary researcher at VU Amsterdam, and she explores how place-based, multi-sensory stories of the future can encourage pro-environmental thinking and climate action using her senstoryscapes approach.
Suzanne is South African and long-time resident of Innsbruck, Austria. She is an aspiring mindful person who does her best to tread lightly and intentionally on the earth.
Let’s get started…
In this conversation with Suzanne Whitby, I learned:
- 00:00 Intro
- 03:55 Looking at experimental smelling futures of ancient Pompei and creating sensory maps.
- 05:40 Learning about sensory mapping and understanding what a smell or sound means.
- 09:00 We are making assumptions about how similar people are to us, but in reality, they are different.
- 10:45 For most of us, we change our minds based on emotions.
- 12:45 Feeling and experiencing possible futures.
- 16:30 The deficit model of science communication.
- 18:10 Discovering different futures and what future we would like to have? Most people want the same sort of things.
- 23:05 How can we have excuses to justify to ourselves?
- 25:25 Focus more on what we can gain instead of what we might lose.
- 29:35 Learning about scenario planning via a game and building resilience.
- 32:40 Supporting scientists with their communication after the BP oil spill.
- 35:20 Why communicating with society is important for scientists.
- 41:25 She got disillusioned by the corporate world in the UK.
- 43:25 The most important pivot for her business.
- 47:00 Co-creating hopeful, sustainable futures.
- 52:05 Equality vs equity, what does it mean?
- 1:00:15 The ideas are stepping stones. Sometimes an idea has to die in order to take you into a new direction.
More about Suzanne Whitby:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzannewhitby/
- https://klimafit.eu/
- https://www.futures.fit/
- https://suzannewhitby.com/
- https://futuringis.com/ (podcast)
- https://suzannewhitby.com/thegreatswitch/ (A weekly-ish newsletter documenting my journey of switching to tools that are open source, Europe-based, or aligned with better futures for all.)
- https://peopleplanetprosecco.eu/
- https://scicommsuccess.com/
Resources
- Phoebe Tickell
- Imagination Activism to Create Systemic Shifts | Phoebe Tickell | IDG Summit 2023
- From Inner Growth to Outer Change | Phoebe Tickell | Keynote x ChangeNOW2024
- Imagination Activism | Phoebe Tickell – Planet Critical podcast
- VU Amsterdam
- Kate McLean – Sensory maps
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/maren-urner_wir-m%C3%BCssen-reden-und-zwar-dar%C3%BCber-wie-activity-7312451758335623169-griG (Maren Urner – Wir mussen reden)
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/michaelfritz-vivaconagua_miniaturwunderland-hamburg-klima-activity-7310198922885423106-k8a8/ (Why don’t you see it video)
- Scenario planning (Wikipedia)
- De levende onderneming – Arie de Geus #boekencast afl 1 (Dutch)
- The Living Company: Growth, Learning and Longevity in business – Arie de Geus (book)
- The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- stem scientists = scientists that work in Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
- Seth Godin
Video of the conversation with Suzanne Whitby
Watch the conversation here https://youtu.be/F9l0F6i7aEk
