A word for a pet project

The Futures Student Recognition project, conducted by the Association of Professional Futurists, is starting its second year. This project has consumed a lot of my time so I've missed a few blogs here but I'll be catching up.

The Student Recognition project for students of Foresight and Futures Studies is an attempt by the Association of Professional Futurists to recognize some of the very fine work that is being done by graduate students in futures studies around the world.

We started late in 2008, but still got a number of good papers. Some of the schools we invited didn't contribute papers in 2008, but promised to have entries for the 2009 project. We only invited 11 of the best known universities with graduate degrees in Studies of the Future last year, partly because the program was so new and we were going to have to work out all the kinks. Actually, everything went smoothly. The judges were excellent, reading through all the papers, adding insightful comments, yet coming up with very similar decisions on each of the papers.

So the awards have been announced and awarded and certificates have gone out to all the 2008 winners. Now we are sending out invitations for 2009. We'll double the number of schools, trying not to grow too fast, but still trying to be inclusive and give all the schools with substantial graduate programs in Foresight and Future Studies an opportunity to participate. Here's a list of schools that have been invited for 2009:
ARGENTINA
Universidad Nacional de La Plata
AUSTRALIA
Swinburne University of Technology
AUSTRALIA
Curtin University of Technology
AUSTRALIA
University of the Sunshine Coast
COLOMBIA
University Externado de Colombia
FINLAND
Turku School of Economics and Finland Future Academy
FRANCE
Conservetoire National des Arts et Metiers
HUNGARY
Corvinus University of Budapest
ITALY
Pontifical Gregorian University
MEXICO
Monterrey Institute of Technology
PAKISTAN
Pakistan Futuristics Foundation and Institute
PORTUGAL
Technical University of Lisbon
ROMANIA
Babes Bolyai University
RUSSIA
Moscow State University
SOUTH AFRICA
University of Stellenbosch
TAIWAN
Fo Guang University
TAIWAN
Tamkang University
UNITED KINGDOM
University of Manchester
UNITED STATES
Regent University
UNITED STATES
University of Hawaii
UNITED STATES
University of Houston

Putting together an international list of universities with futures programs is a little more challenging than one might think at first. We've been guided by two excellent lists, one by José Ramos, the other by John Smart. Both put a lot of research into their lists.

We are already working on a list of schools to add in 2010.

I keep saying "we." Jim Mathews, a futurist in Salt Lake City, and I are co-chairman for the Student Recognition project this year. The APF Board of Directors has been very closely involved with us in this project from the start, offering support and suggestions and generous awards. They have also been very generous with their praise for the success of the 2008 project, as have many of the participating universities.

We are already receiving entries for 2009!

Comments and suggestions are welcome!