Royal Society Victoria Future Thinking Forum (2018 and 2020)

Following a new strategy to build the influence of science in Government, the R Royal Society Victoria wanted a new approach to enable academics to collaborate more with senior Government decision-makers, and to create a space for frank exchange of ideas and innovations. The Royal Society Victoria wanted to build on its historic role as an important independent voice for science into Government in Victoria.

What we did

• Working with the CEO, we partnered to produce a Chatham House style event straddling the science-policy interface focused on exploring the challenges keeping senior Government decision-makers up a night. The model became known as the Future Thinking Forum.

• Designed, framed and delivered two large (~100 key scientific and Government leaders) workshop processes in person (2018) and online (2020) that resulted in increased shared understanding of the issues, potential solutions and expanded active networks among leaders in the Victorian Government and academia.

The Result

Outputs from the 2018 Forum focused on extreme weather are available here. Outputs from the 2020 Forum focused on building a resilient future for biodiversity, water and agriculture are available here.