Imagined Futures

What would it look like to research imagined futures? To seek the possible, the probable and the preferable, in order to shape a desired future through critical thinking and creativity. The UN estimates that 60 percent of the world population feels economically insecure in the face of global transformations that include escalating conflicts and climate change. From the rise of AI to demographic shifts, gender equality to public health, food security to the rising cost of living, imagining radically different futures offers a way for researchers to interrogate these complex and interconnected national and global challenges.

GW4 Crucible 2026 offers an opportunity for future research leaders across a broad range of disciplines to come together to converse, initiate new collaborations and create research that will imagine new futures. It will leverage the combined expertise from politics to computer science, from architecture to health, and from history to engineering, to generate innovative, multifaceted and radically interdisciplinary approaches to research which will shape future generations. If you are a GW4 researcher with an interest in or expertise applicable to any aspect futures research, we want to hear from you!

How to apply

Programme now closed for applications.