The FutuRes Project: Expanding our network of stakeholders with innovative events

For a sustainable impact strategy, research must reach out to new stakeholders consistently, as well as maintain established contacts. Because of this, stakeholder engagement a large component of the EU-funded research project "Towards a Resilient Future of Europe" or "FutuRes", in which Population Europe is a partner. In this project, we have woven the element of exchange between policy and science into all of our activities, starting from day one.

Now, in July 2024, "FutuRes" is reaching it's midpoint - just after a new European Parliament has been elected, which will bring about transformation. We continue to use research and transdisciplinary exchange to prepare for Europe’s demographic future. There are more innovative events coming up in the project's Policy Lab after the summer. But first, let us inform about the impact activities of the past quarter:

In March, the Policy Lab brought together the population policy teams from five country governments and two regional governments to foster exchange between European policymakers across borders. FutuRes experts met later that months in Brussels with the EU Vice-President for Demography and Democracy, Dubravka Šuica, to discuss policy pathways through Europe’s demographic shifts. At a conference of leading European policy experts in May, FutuRes researchers expressed clear standpoints on policy priorities.

Our experts also spoke to media, for example to the BBC in an insightful feature about Europe’s fertility rates. Further media appearances of our experts include the Financial Times, the Guardian, Rzeczpospolita, Die Welt and Perspective Daily. Meanwhile, the FutuRes research team in Warsaw published this Policy Insight laying out ways to support fertility resilience during crises.

FutuRes Policy experts Jakub Bijak and Anna Rotkirch presented their findings on a panel on Foresight in EU Policy at the European Population Conference, following an excellent presentation by Deša Srsen of the Cabinet of the EU Vice-President for Demography and Democracy.

Coming up

We are grateful for the privilege of doing scientific research on a continent which is democratic and invested in knowledge and fact. We are extremely grateful to have your expertise as part of the FutuRes Policy Lab community. In the second half of the project, we will further expand our network of stakeholders and organise further innovative event formats.

For example, we are pleased to announce that on September 26, FutuRes is hosting an online citizen workshop where our researchers will meet with the public to discuss questions of ageism and policy. The workshop is targeted at civil society organisations and their members, both on the national and EU level. Click here to share the invitation for this workshop with organisations that may wish to join us.

Also coming up in September: For the next step in the Qualitative Scenario Building process, FutuRes is meeting with experts to match the perspective of research with that of practice. More than 100 experts from policy, civil society and academia from all over Europe have been invited to work with our foresight experts in the FutuRes scenario building workshops in September 2024. In these focused meetings, the experts will be presented with a number of key influencing factors and projections for resilience in Europe’s demographic development, which have already been defined by our FutuRes research team (read all the latest research reports here).

The factors and projections cover topics such as care, migration and economic development. Based on their experience and knowledge, the experts will be asked to assess possible connections and correlations between different manifestations of each key factor. As a result, they will develop holistic scenarios for possible and desirable futures of resilient European demography - and provide an evidence-based foundation for policy-making. The results of the discussion will inform the FutuRes Foresight Documents, which will be presented in 2025.

Should you be interested in discussing possible joint actitivities with FutuRes, please contact Kate Dearden and Peter Weissenburger. If you use social media, we recommend you follow "FutuRes - Towards a Resilient Future of Europe" in order to stay informed about our activities.

FutuRes Linkedin page

FutuRes Twitter/X

Image