Event description
Piazza of Future Ateliers.
The Advanced Training School Futures and Sustainability is aimed at University of Parma PhD candidates and is designed to integrate Futures Literacy into academic research. The programme develops the ability to interpret emerging change and address complex long-term problems, treating the future not as something to be predicted, but as a tool for understanding and consciously transforming the present. Through lectures, workshops and interdisciplinary project work, participants learn to identify weak signals and construct alternative scenarios. Building on the experience of ASviS and Ecosistema Futuro, the School adapts these approaches to doctoral training at the University of Parma. The programme is organised around three thematic axes - law and society, mind and body, and history and heritage - with particular attention to sustainability, digital transformation and social, demographic and climate change. Interdisciplinary groups produce scenarios, critical analyses and scientific and policy recommendations, with the overall aim of strengthening the quality, impact and systemic relevance of research by a new generation of scholars.
The School is organised in three progressive blocks. The opening day establishes the cultural and methodological foundations of Futures Literacy, including a keynote session with a guest speaker. From Tuesday to Thursday morning, work focuses on the three thematic areas of law and society, mind and body, and history and heritage through presentations, discussions and workshops. Afternoons and the final day are devoted to applying futures methods in interdisciplinary groups. Participants identify weak signals and emerging trends, build alternative scenarios, break complex problems down into analysable components and formulate recommendations. The closing phase presents the results of the working groups and produces a synthesis document containing scientific and policy recommendations, including proposals for integrating Futures Literacy more systematically into doctoral research training.