The Next Generation Practitioners Fellowship (NGFP) is an annual fellowship programme for emerging practitioners who use futures and foresight collaboratively to address social and environmental challenges. Applications are currently open for individuals interested in joining the NGFP Fellowship journey.
The programme welcomes applications from individuals and teams aged 18–35 who are beginning to explore the field of futures and foresight. It also accepts applicants over the age of 35 who have less than one year of experience in the sector.
According to the organisers, foresight is a systematic way of engaging with uncertainty by exploring alternative futures, including aspirational ones. Rather than predicting the future, foresight helps individuals and organisations better understand their current and future operating environments so they can make informed decisions today. A foresight practitioner is anyone who applies futures thinking to explore the long-term drivers of change, understand how different futures may evolve, and generate insights that inform present-day decision-making.
The NGFP Fellowship is a one-year programme that combines project support, collaboration, and community-based learning. Fellows receive a USD 1,000 kick-starter grant at the beginning of the programme and become eligible to compete for a USD 10,000 grand prize at the end of the fellowship in recognition of significant progress and contributions to both the NGFP community and the wider emerging foresight field. Participants also enjoy a range of additional professional development and networking opportunities throughout the fellowship.
Applications are open to candidates from anywhere in the world. However, the organisers particularly encourage applications from individuals based in Asia and Africa—including the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)—as well as the Caribbean, Central and South America, the Pacific Islands, and the Balkans.
The fellowship is especially interested in applicants working on some of the world’s most pressing challenges, which it describes as Foresight Transformation Missions. These include Climate and Just Transitions, Democracy and Sustainable Development, Emerging Technologies, Futures Methods from Around the World and Indigenous Futures, Health, Intergenerational Fairness, Nuclear Security and Peacebuilding, and Rural Futures.
Although the fellowship receives many outstanding applications each year, only 25 participants are selected for each annual cohort. Outstanding applicants who are not selected are invited to join the NGFP Sensing Network, a global community of more than 900 practitioners, including 188 fellowship alumni.
Each year, the programme reserves one fellowship position for an applicant from the Balkans in memory of the late Sophie Middlemiss and two fellowship positions for applicants from the Middle East and North Africa through a partnership with the Dubai Future Foundation.
For more information and application details, visit the official NGFP website.
