We are dedicated to examining complex policy challenges to help shape effective, evidence‑informed solutions. Our work deepens understanding of the major issues affecting communities and supports targeted action that leads to meaningful, lasting outcomes.
How We Work
Scan the horizon to identify emerging drivers of change that could affect an organisation, its supply chain, and its operating environment |
Develop scenarios to support more robust decision-making |
Evaluate social, environmental and economic issues influencing policy and regulation |
Apply design methods to make sense of, and reframe contested issues to support more creative and innovative solutions |
Identify critical uncertainties and develop probable and preferred futures |
Facilitate interdisciplinary and cross-sector engagement with diverse stakeholders in complex and contested issues |
Map your organisation's pathway to impact to uncover key barriers and opportunities for success |
Develop decision support tools, frameworks and scenarios to build long-term capability in systems, design and futures thinking across teams and organisations. |
Our Expertise
1. Policy and reform
We support government, industry and civil society to address complex challenges by applying leading approaches from systems, design and futures thinking. Policymakers and practitioners face an increasingly complex world with changes that are disrupting society, the environment and business practices. How we navigate these changes can mean the difference between impactful outcomes, and failure.
Our strategic research applies tried and tested methods to help decision-makers navigate this complexity and design more effective initiatives. Our projects draw on the extensive disciplinary expertise that UQ has in areas such as ethics, philosophy, and decision science.
Key Impacts
- Identified potential employment models that could be piloted by providers in the social services sector for Anglicare Southern Queensland
- Shaped Australian parliamentary recommendations on compulsory income management through an influential submission formally recognised in the Committee’s final report
- Helped define Australia’s marine science priorities through peer-reviewed White Papers identifying future research infrastructure needs and broader cultural, social and economic considerations
- Delivered projects on scaling social innovations in employment service delivery and enablers of employee empowerment to enter or return to work
- Citations by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, UN Human Rights, UK Parliament Select Committee, Institute of Development Studies and the Australian Parliament
- Developed and launched ‘The Pacific Pathfinder: a toolkit to imagine and create futures’ to 27 countries and territories that govern The Pacific Community
- Shaped UN Women’s ‘Feminist Plan for a Just Transition’ and UNRISD’s ‘New Eco-social Contract’ network.
- Informed government inquiries into food security, resilience and flooding, financial investment, food pricing and Australia’s progress on the SDGs
