What is a Social Work Futurist?

Simply put, a Social Work Futurist is a social worker who anticipates possible futures and shapes the present using the tools and techniques of futures thinking and strategic foresight.

The terms futurist and foresight practitioner are often used interchangeably, but they reflect slightly different ways of engaging with futures.

A futurist is broadly anyone who explores how trends, technologies, and social forces might shape or influence what comes next. Futurists often combine data, imagination, and storytelling to make sense of change and inspire new possibilities. They might work as researchers, consultants, educators, or artists—anyone who helps people think differently about the future.

A foresight practitioner, on the other hand, uses experiential, participatory, structured, or evidence-based methods to anticipate and plan for change. Foresight practitioners guide groups through processes like horizon scanning, trend mapping, and scenario planning to identify potential futures and prepare for them strategically in the present.

Futurists imagine and explore futures. Foresight practitioners help design and navigate them. But it’s not a binary, and there is much overlap between the two paradigms.

As a social work futurist, I seek to use imagination and critical inquiry to explore how emerging trends — from artificial intelligence and digital media to climate migration and demographic shifts — might transform the contexts in which people live and practice. I want folks to ask bold “What if…?” questions and envision possibilities that reflect equity, inclusion, and resilience. Using futures tools like signal scanning, the futures wheel, scenario planning and others, I seek to engage communities, students, and organizations in anticipating change and developing strategies that ensure social work remains relevant and responsive.

I believe all social workers have a futurist inside of them as they continually work to empower clients and communities and seek positive social change. Hope is a key aspect of futures and foresight practice! Social Work Futurists can act as bridge builders between the present and the possible — helping their clients ride the waves of change with intention, creativity, and courage. Stay tuned to this Blog as I share more about my work, and if you want to imagine, inspire, and innovate as a Social Work Futurist, let’s connect because futures work is done best when it’s done in community!