Dear Migration Enthusiasts and Polis Members,

Quo vadis? Where are you going? Looking beyond the pandemic, this question takes on a whole new meaning. As human mobility is called into question across the world, the way we move – or do not move – is changing rapidly.  

We invite you to envisage with us what the future of human mobility may look like by attending our upcoming workshop series. Join us and engage with inspiring input from high-level panelists, and discuss the future of human mobility with diverse participants from across the globe. 

Whether you are professionally involved with the topic of migration, or you are an individual looking to increase your expertise of the subject, you are warmly invited to participate in our upcoming workshops. These have been designed to challenge long-held assumptions about migration through creatively immersing ourselves in the experiences of five fictitious personas. Interested to join? All the details can be found in the attachments. Although registration on Eventbrite is required for each individual workshop, all three workshops are part of the process and we strongly recommend participants register to each one in order to maximise the impact of ideas.

When and where?

* Drivers workshop – 2nd of March 2021, from 6 to 9 pm CET

What drivers of change will affect our personas’ mobility? What are the main megatrends? Which are key uncertainties and potential disruptions? What are highly unlikely game-changers? In a collaborative effort, we will use the STEEP approach to rank drivers by likelihood and impact. The results will be uploaded to Policy Kitchen, where they can be refined even afterwards in preparation for the subsequent Scenario Workshop. Register here!

* Scenario workshop – 31st of March 2021, from 6 to 9 pm CET                                              

This workshop is about challenging the status quo, or getting better at doing so, by asking “What if?”. To stimulate creative and forward thinking, we will create qualitative narratives that emphasize possible structural changes and their consequences for the mobility of your persona of choice. We will be asking ourselves: What is the context of mobility/migration in 2050?  How do changes in this context and interactions between individual drivers influence the decisions/choices of my persona of choice? Let your creativity run free in this explorative workshop. Confirm your participation in this workshop here.

*Ideation workshop – 4th of May 2021, from 6 to 9 pm CET                                                     

After rehearsing the possibilities of tomorrow in the last workshop, the ideation workshop aims at identifying the necessary action today. Empowered by provocations and insights, we will come together to find ways to prevent or increase the likelihood of the scenarios developed. The objective of this entire participatory, iterative, foresight experiment is to generate innovative policy recommendations that help International Organisations and policy makers to become more agile and able to adapt in a proactive rather than a reactive way. Add your voice to this ambitious project and support us in making it fly. Confirm your participation in this workshop here. 

The Process 

What will happen to your ideas afterwards? We will collect your visions and develop short, fictitious personal stories of mobility. These will serve as a script for a mockcast, a fictional documentary-style podcast series. The stories will then be bundled together and contextualised for a short written output, so that your ideas will reach policy-makers. Make your voice heard!

Who are we?

The Open Think Tank Network members – Agora (UK), foraus (CH), Polis180 (DE) and Ponto (AT). Plus, we have partnered with the Youth Cafe from Kenya and will see participation from The United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs DPPA (among others).

Registrations take place exclusively on Eventbrite (see links above for each workshop). If you have questions you can contact Christiane or Sanziana.    

Looking forward to digitally meeting you!