The Master's Degree Programme in Futures Studies provides comprehensive, multidisciplinary and practical education in the field of futures studies. It is designed to educate foresight experts who help organisations to harness future opportunities and avoid unnecessary risks. This programme is taught at the University of Turku in Finland.
Futures Studies is a new emerging field of research. As the future does not exist yet, futurists study the future projections of and discontinuities in past trends and current views of the long-term future. Futures Studies is interested in the probable futures, possible futures and preferred futures. As a societal action, futures studies aim to serve private and public decision-makers by outlining alternative long-term strategies in a changing operational environment. As an academic field of research, Futures Studies generates knowledge of the ways and processes of how individuals and organisations deal with the uncertain future. Typical research questions in the field are focused to the epistemology of knowledge about the future, the methodological development of futures studies tools and analyses of alternative futures of a clear topic or a more general theme. Futures Studies is an interdisciplinary field, where wide topics are analysed and the results and approaches of more traditional disciplines meet.
The students graduating from the Master’s Degree Programme in Futures Studies will qualify to a wide array of expert positions in the strategic units of private companies and public institutions. Here you will get a versatile toolkit for implementing foresight thinking for the benefit of a given organisation. You will qualify to a wide array of expert positions in the strategic and foresight units of private companies and public institutions. The Programme also serves as an excellent basis for building a consultant business.
Possible job titles are:
- strategic planning executive,
- consultant,
- futures analyst,
- business development manager, and
- development and planning officer in public administration.
