Hi, I’m Suzanne.
Futurer by chance. Hopeful by choice.

I explore possible futures (futuring), and I create and facilitate workshops and experiences to help others explore possible futures to:

• build resilience
• challenge assumptions
• stretch the imagination
• encourage thinking about possible risks and opportunities
• challenge people, teams and organisations to look at the present with fresh eyes, and intentionally shape better futures

Visit Futures Fit to learn more about my futuring, futures and foresight offerings, as well as public events.

Wondering what Futuring is? I have a podcast called Futuring Is, where I chat to people who “future” to find out what THEY think futuring is, and how they do it.

Curious about how I am using futuring in my research? Learn more here →

I am a professional facilitator and an experienced moderator of groups, as well as an active member of the International Association of Facilitators. I design and facilitate workshops and sessions in the following areas:

• Futures literacy, futures thinking, and futuring at Futures Fit
• Innovation, risks and opportunities, design thinking and planning at Futures Fit
• Sustainability and climate-related topics like sustainable decision making, climate solutions, and the circular economy at klimafit, in English & German
• I occasionally facilitate public workshops sessions on a variety of other topics, like Values 101 and The Artist’s Way, which appear in my events.

I also design and facilitate sessions that incorporate multi-sensory experiences and storytelling to prompt thought, encourage dialogue, and invite change, some of which I do in my research.

I have a deep and wide knowledge of (almost) all aspects of communication. I ran a successful creative agency called Future Makers for 12 years, and in parallel, I found myself working as a freelance interpersonal and intercultural skills trainer. I founded a company called SciComm Success in 2014 to offer communication skills training to scientists, researchers and academics.

Currently, I am involved in:

1. Delivering communication training for scientists, researchers and academics at SciComm Success
2. Teaching storytelling and narrative skills at Wicked Storytelling
3. Presence and presentation skills coaching and workshops at Share Your Science

I am also researching senstoryscapes as a way of talking (communicating( about climate change and encouraging action.

I am an active climate and sustainability communicator and I give talks, presentations, workshops and training about climate change, climate solutions, climate policies, climate communication, sustainability, the IDGs and the circular economy. And, of course, futures literacy and futures thinking as a way to prompt thinking and action.

Most of this happens at klimafit. My research is also related to climate and sustainability communication.

I work extensively with narrative, storytelling and stories in my futuring work, research, and in my communication training. I use stories and narrative frameworks myself, and I reach others to use them to communicate clearly, spark interest, engage minds and set hearts afire. I am particularly interested in the relationship between stories, perceived agency, and action.

As an oral storyteller and performance artist, I design storytelling shows for adult audiences, combining and retelling traditional tales, true stories, and, of course, stories of the future, to entertain, educate, and invite new ways of thinking.  I collaborate with heritage sites, museums, festivals, tourism organisations, science groups and more, as a storyteller, story designer, and as an educator.

My storytelling isn’t always about hopeful, sustainable futures: often, it’s a place for people to put away their screens and explore the theatre of the mind and be present. As a performance artist, my stage name is Ziyadliwa.

I am a PhD candidate at VU Amsterdam, and my research focuses on exploring the way in which senstoryscapes (or place-based, multi-sensory stories of the future) can be used to encourage pro-environment attitudes and behaviour, and particularly, to encourage individual climate action.

My route to this research was a bit unusual, as my MA was in the field of Classical Studies. I have always had a deep interest in the ancient world, and the Middle Ages. In the course of my studies, I became interested in the sensory aspects of the past and my research resulted in a thesis that explored the lived olfactory experiences of people in Pompeii shortly before the eruption of Vesuvius. I wanted to continue working with sensory research and I wanted to work with stories. I could probably have stayed in the Classics department, but I felt compelled to make sure that my research was contributing to co-creating these hopefully, sustainable futures that I go on about, and so my PhD proposal was born.

I have a BA in English, with minors in the Classics and Philosophy, in case that’s of interest.

• Podcast host: Futuring Is…
• Facilitator & Co-ordinator: Citizen-led renovation (EU project)
• Urban walker: Ways to Walk
• Intergenerational mentor: The Resilience Project
• Co-facilitator: Meeting Innovators
• Aspiring mindful person: tiny mindful
• SIG lead: Futures & Facilitation at the International Association of Facilitators