Hi, I’m Suzanne.
Hopeful by choice. Convinced that together, we can co-create hopeful, sustainable futures.
I work where science, society, storytelling, and sustainability connect.
As a facilitator, researcher, and practitioner, I help build the capacities we need to navigate uncertainty and shape change, whether that means helping scientists communicate evidence, or supporting groups in imagining possible futures, or creating experiences that reconnect people with place and possibility. Or a bit of all of the above.
My work is anchored in the belief that sustainable futures depend on capacity-building at multiple levels:
- the capacity to share evidence clearly
- the capacity to work collectively with uncertainty, and
- the capacity to recover our attention, agency, and care for the world around us.
Curious about my journey? Keep reading →
Alternatively, you can skip ahead to my “official bio” (useful for podcast hosts and meeting organisers), or simply get in touch for chat →
How I came to this work
I didn’t set out to become a futurer. I stumbled into it. Or perhaps it found me.
I’m a scuba diver and sailor with a deep love of the ocean. Both my parents grew up by the sea in South Africa, and every year we’d spend some of our holidays and many long weekends in Durban, on or by the beach. My early years were spent swimming, boogie boarding, exploring rock pools, and probably getting more sun than is now considered safe.
I love everything about the ocean: its systems, its inhabitants, how it sustains us, and how it demands respect. (When I was around eight or nine, I was carried away by currents in what was then the Transkei: a healthy reminder that nature nurtures and kills.)
Years later, on a research trip with my husband, an Italian researcher told me about the Mattanza Tonnara, the traditional tuna hunt that was active at the time, even as tuna populations collapse. I was horrified. I immersed myself in learning about ocean sustainability, and eventually, sustainability more broadly.
This led me in several directions at once: (click for details)
Through my sustainability activism (is that the right word?), I discovered how difficult it is to shift people’s thinking. I started experimenting: visioning exercises, “postcards from the future” workshops, stories told from the perspective of future characters. In my oral storytelling performances, I experimented with a piece where parents ruminated on where they were when the last elephant was shot. It was powerful.
Somewhere along the line, I realized this work had a name: futures studies. I started combining it with storytelling, simple scenarios, and provocations. That eventually became Futures Fit, my futures facilitation practice.
And through my doctoral research, I developed senstoryscapes – a methodology exploring how multi-sensory, place-based experiences can build the capacities we need for climate action and systems change. That research became Walk the Futures and informs my Ways to Walk practice.
You could say I’m an accidental futurer – though I’ve been playing with possible futures in different forms for over 15 years.
What connects it all?
Everything I do is about building capacity – at different levels, for different groups:
Evidence-based capacity: Helping scientists communicate so evidence can inform decisions (upstream of policy)
Futures capacity: Helping groups make sense of uncertainty and imagine possibilities (upstream of disruption)
Pre-political capacity: Helping people recover attention, agency, and care (upstream of behavior change)
My research explores how these capacities develop – particularly through embodied, sensory, narrative experiences.
It’s diverse work. But it’s coherent. All of it serves the same purpose: co-creating hopeful, sustainable futures by building the capacities we need to navigate change together.
How I work
Professionally, I facilitate, train, and design experiences across three areas:
01. Science communication
Through SciComm Success, I help researchers communicate clearly and build institutional capacity.
02. Futures facilitation
Through Futures Fit, I create spaces for collective sense-making and strategic imagination
03. Walking & place-based practice
Through Ways to Walk, using sensory experience to build connection, attention, and agency
Creatively, I’m an oral storyteller (performing as Ziyadliwa) and create Earthed Art, impermanent art practices exploring presence and change.
As a researcher, I’m completing my PhD at VU Amsterdam, developing and testing my senstoryscapes methodology.
I occasionally give talks and keynotes on futures, storytelling, sustainability, and science communication, in my professional and academic capacity.
My approach across all this work is what I think of as “gardening”: cultivating conditions, relationships, and ideas over time rather than hunting for outcomes. I trust that the right work finds its way when the practice is clear and the intentions are genuine.
Official Bio: Suzanne Whitby
Suzanne Whitby:
Building capacities for hopeful, sustainable futures through research, facilitation, and storytelling
Suzanne Whitby is a facilitator, researcher, and practitioner dedicated to co-creating hopeful, sustainable futures. She works at the intersection of science, society, storytelling, and sustainability, building the capacities needed to navigate uncertainty and shape change.
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Suzanne is the founder of Futures Fit, a futures facilitation practice, and SciComm Success, an award-winning science communication training company. Through Ways to Walk, she creates place-based experiences that cultivate attention, agency, and connection. As an interdisciplinary researcher completing her PhD at VU Amsterdam, she developed senstoryscapes, a methodology exploring how multi-sensory, place-based experiences can inspire climate action and systems change.
Her work spans three interconnected areas:
- Evidence-based capacity: helping scientists communicate so research can inform decisions
- Futures capacity: facilitating collective sense-making and strategic imagination under uncertainty
- Pre-political sustainability capacity: helping people recover attention, care, and agency through embodied practice
Known for her warm, engaging, and energizing facilitation style, Suzanne works across Europe translating complex ideas into meaningful, actionable insights.
She is the creator of the Walk the Futures research project, and as well as initiatives including the New Commons, the klimafit programme in Austria, climate conversations format “People. Planet. Prosecco.” and capacity-building work with research institutions, startups, and civic organisations.
As a creative practitioner, Suzanne performs oral storytelling as Ziyadliwa and creates Earthed Art, impermanent art exploring presence and change. She hosts several podcasts on futures thinking, science communication, and sustainability.
A proud South African and long-time resident of Innsbruck, Austria, Suzanne lives with her rather marvelous husband and an impressive collection of books. She’s an aspiring mindful person and a firm believer in the power of imagination to change the world.
On a personal note
I’m a proud South African and long-time resident of Innsbruck, Austria, where I live with my rather marvelous husband and an impressive collection of books. I am water-oriented rather than mountain-oriented (ironic, given where I live) and I am happiest swimming, scuba diving, sailing, and being near the water.
I love walking. I’m working on my Italian, my drawing, perfume-making skills, and I am learning to tell stories using my puppets (a spontaneous COVID-19 investment). I love a good Pilates or Yin Yoga class, and I am trained to offer both. (I also happen to be a qualified massage therapist, Reiki practitioner, and Aura-Soma therapist. Yes, I went through one of those phases.)
Nowadays, I’m an aspiring mindful person (emphasis on aspiring) and a firm believer in the power of imagination to change the world. I do my best to tread lightly and intentionally on the earth, and to help others find their own ways of doing the same.