ASU Futurists Community of Practice

A unique community of ASU faculty, students, and staff that are using or interested in futures thinking and strategic foresight

Join our ASU Futurists CoP

Curious about how colleagues and students across ASU use futures thinking? Whether you’re new to foresight or a seasoned practitioner or researcher this community is for you.

Our engaging community is comprised of both experienced futures thinkers and those who are curious or just beginning to explore the field. Please help spread the word about this community of practice to interested faculty, staff, and students.

Join our CoP!

Our goals

The Futurists CoP is a community with the intention to foster collaboration, inspire new ways of engaging with futures, and catalyzing new projects and ideas across ASU and beyond. Our goals for this community are as follows:

  • Showcasing how colleagues and students are applying futures thinking across ASU and beyond
  • Offering access to expert-led workshops, courses, and resources to deepen foresight skills and practices
  • Facilitating thought-provoking discussions that challenge assumptions and spark innovative ideas
  • Building lasting connections across diverse fields, expanding professional networks, and catalyzing transdisciplinary collaboration

When and where we meet

While we cannot meet at a regular time that will work for everyone, we try our best to spread our meetings out across different days of the week to accommodate as many teaching / class schedules as possible.

2025 – 2026 Schedule – All Meetings unless otherwise specified will take place on Zoom
Each meeting is 90 minutes in length that uses the following structure:

  • First 30 minutes: A lecture-style session where someone from the community shares a foresight tool, a futures-related project, or a topic we hope sparks curiosity and discussion.
  • Final 60 minutes: A working session for those interested in contributing to collaborative projects.
  • Time: 12pm – 1:30pm

Fall Semester 2025

  • Thursday, September 4, 2025
  • Tuesday, September 30, 2025
  • Monday, November 3, 2025
  • Tuesday, December 2, 2025

Spring Semester 2026

  • Wednesday, January 14, 2026
  • Tuesday, February 10, 2025
  • Monday, March 2, 2026
  • Thursday, April 9, 2026
Sign up now!

CoP Leadership

The ASU Futurists Community of Practice was founded in 2024 by Sean Leahy, PhD, Ruth Wylie, PhD, and Bea Rodriguez-Fransen, EdD. As futurists, researchers, and practitioners, they recognized the growing interest in futures thinking across the university and the need for a shared space to support it. Their vision was to create an intentionally interdisciplinary community where experienced scholars, newcomers, and everyone in between could come together to explore futures, exchange ideas, and collaborate on projects. The CoP was established as a hub to connect people across diverse fields, foster learning, and inspire innovative approaches to understanding and shaping the future.

Sean M. Leahy, Ph.D.

Executive Director | Future of Being Human initiative
Research Scientist | Sch. Future of Innovation in Society
Senior Global Futures Scholar | Global Futures Laboratory
College of Global Futures

ASU Biography
*Founding Member

Bea Rodriguez-Fransen, Ed.D.

Assistant Research Professor | Principled Innovation
Senior Global Futures Scholar | Global Futures Laboratory

ASU Biography
*Founding Member

Ruth Wylie, Ph.D.

Co-Director | Center for Science and the Imagination
Research Professor | Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College
Senior Global Futures Scientist | Global Futures Laboratory

ASU Biography
*Founding Member