APF EMERGING FELLOWS 2025 APPLICATION FAQ

This is an edited summary of the FAQ session. The order of questions has been adjusted. If you would like to listen to the full session, you can download the audio recording.

Q: How many applications did you receive last year?

A: We had about 140 applications last year.

Q: Who is your ideal candidate?

A: We're not looking for someone who checked all the boxes in terms of being a professional foresight. Someone who kind of actualized themselves while that could be the case. Our ideal candidate is someone who is willing to learn, has an appetite for writing, and who's just starting in foresight. They want to have a platform where they can express themselves, grow their voice,  and maybe they're crossing from a different industry. You don't necessarily have to have an academic background in foresight. You actually could be doing foresight in your job through a different industry, but it's not official. So someone who has the appetite for it, someone who is willing and wanting to actually build their brand and find their voice through futures and foresight. As you all know,  it's a volunteer effort, so you're not being paid. Everybody on the program, from the leadership and the emerging fellows themselves, they are not paid. So there is a lot of volunteer effort that goes into the program for its sustainability and for it to operate the way it is.

Q: Can the fellows be located anywhere in the world, or is there physical attendance required?

A: Yes, there is no geographic restriction as all sessions are virtual participation. But you may need to take into the account time difference.

Q: Is there any age restriction? Or professional barrier?

A: I know sometimes people get confused with the word emerging. It kind of gives the sense that it's like a young person,  but I don't think that's the case here. What we're trying to convey here or the programs trying to convey here is you being or the candidates emergence in futures. We have fellows who not emerging in terms of age, but they're definitely emerging in futures, and they kind of had this opportunity to build their prep home and their voice through futures.

Q: Can I apply again if I am not selected this year?

A: Definitely. You can apply again next year.

Q: If the fellowship requires extensive travel conferences is financial support provided or is there access to additional funding? Especially in certification or is it provided by the APF?

A: There is no funding for travelling to conferences or for projects—but what it offer is a network of expert practitioners that you can connect with, ask questions of, and volunteer with.  This opens up new opportunities.

Q: Are there interviews after the application? Or is the application the only evaluation tool?

A: Please stick to the application. Some of you have projects, some of you have websites, some of you have podcasts. Listening to the podcast and viewing the website could be time-consuming. Do your best within that application space. It may sound confining when we're talking about broadening yourself. However, for the purposes of reviewers getting to know you, it will be a great exercise in conciseness.

Q: Regarding a screening question about publishing anything about foresight before, am I eligible if I have 1-2 conference papers about foresight?

A: Conference papers, articles are fine as long as you haven't been publishing for many years. This is not the fellowship for published authors.

Q: Can you expand on "writing on Futures Thinking and Foresight" vs "work on Futures projects"?

The core driver or objective of the program is for you to find your voice, and that's through the writing and through the teaching, because you get in the next year, you get to teach a book  chapter to the success of emerging fellows. The writing itself, I mean, what I like about it, and one of the things that I'm really excited about is when we get a global and diverse group of emerging futures, everybody has an input. I come from architectural design and innovation  background. Working on future projects, however, we don't have a specific kind of module within the program that would allow you or give you the opportunity to work on an actual practical project. However, I would say that you can depend on the opportunities that you can see within the program on your entrepreneurial spirit to find the opportunity to do that.

While there isn't a particular module specifically designed for project making, the previous cohorts did do either writing projects together that they published at the end of their two years. It's not foreign that there could be opportunities to collaborate with your fellow cohort members. So even though we didn't have particular projects, the WFSF had their 50th anniversary conference in Paris, and quite a few of us were able to go. Sabrina was assisting with facilitation in a session with Wendy Schultz, while other fellows also joined the workshop. So they had the opportunity to actually engage with the futures and post-normal that we were talking about in that particular session. And then Heba had a presentation on wayfinding with other colleagues, and so we all went to her session and had the opportunity to support her. Many of you may or may not know that the Dubai Futures Forum is coming up in November, and several cohort members from multiple cohorts will converge at the Dubai Futures Forum and then have an opportunity to come together, talk, and then expand the monthly meetings that we have, which also includes potential opportunity for joint projecting. Though a certain element may not embedded in the program, it certainly can happen. There's a lot of flexibility in the program. The program is run by the cohorts in terms of effectively month to month throughout your two-year term. You'll find that you'll be collaborating a lot with your cohort members to make your particular cohort experience what you want it to be.

Q: Any advice for the application process itself and the essays that need to submitted?

A: The first thing is that there's no wrong or right answer. We're not looking for a specific answer for you to write. It would  really help us to kind of get the sense of who you are, such as your identity. We want to know what you care about, and where do you see yourself. It's very important that we see that you have a vision of your time being in the program, what you want to do, understand your interests, and how do you see yourself within the program. So I would say write about what you like and what you're passionate about. Definitely see if the program would actually serve you in that sense.

This is not that fellowship that are designed to go in one way and you come out and you have like kind of this direct link to that goal that you want. This is about you have a sense that you  want to get into the field. There's something about either the field or your topic area and the future regarding that topic area that you'd like to explore. Bring yourself. So what I would say is whenever you have access to the application, do take a moment to yourself to really think about  what you're going to be willing and able to spend two years giving your time to. Because it's only  six slots. And so a couple of people decide that they either don't have the time or the inclination to come and then it really changes the experience. So again, as you read the questions, take a minute to think about how you really feel about that particular topic.

Q: What are some of the most important experience gained by the EF's?

Answer from Sabrina:

Paris was a highlight for me, the opportunity to see other members of our cohort who were there supporting each other the way that we have. The fact is that when a new cohort comes in, the previous cohort actually facilitates the strategic foresight materials reading month to month. It helps with our facilitation skills and with our public speaking skills. We have become more confident in talking about futures because, as you all may have begun to realize, futures has a language all unto itself. First of all, understand that language and then interpret that language back into the broader world so that we as futurists can be of service to our  industries, our respective industries or global causes. So the thing I think I'm most proud of is when members of our cohort were highlighted. Samista was one of the APF's First Friday featured speaker, and she talked about the work that she does with water conservation as an engineer and how she  brings futures into that. Heba was doing the wayfinding session at WFSF. And then my writings  that have been in the Human Futures magazine as well as Compass, many of us have been featured in Compass as well. So I think the opportunity for the exposure and then taking advantage of those  opportunities, I have to say there's a little bit of courage that has grown since I've been in the  program because when we have featured speakers, they always say, at the end of the session, “happy to hear from you”. And I've actually followed up. I actually followed up with Wendy Schultz. And she was so generous with her time. And she took me through three horizons, I will never forget that. And it wouldn't have been possible without, you know, that kind of exposure. So I think that's what I'm most proud of. 

Answer from Amalia:

I've been using futures informally for a long time before I came into the formal space. And so I think this idea of what is an emerging futurist is, you can take a little bit of artistic license with it because it doesn't mean you have to know nothing and haven't been practising, but in a formal space, you're newer.

And I also came from a career in philanthropy. And so I think for me, what I'm most excited about  at this point is really bringing new insight into the space. The writing I have been doing is around what can different social movements in the United States or organizations that are part of the social sector, who are focused more specifically on social and economic justice and racial justice, what they can do to teach futures? And so I think for me, what I'm proud of is, you know, being able to be a connector, to be able to be in this space with other folks who are futures-oriented or practising futurists, who may not know the community-based organizations or the NGOs that are already deeply engaged in imaginative, creative, speculative work, but don't use the framework of futures and futurists, right? They don't know that lingo, they don't know that vocabulary,  but they are deeply engaged in imagining and reimagining the kind of world that we all want to live in. I am able to use the platform here to kind of knit the work together to show people different angles and different approaches.

Answer from Wen:

I think, for me, the most proud is, I think I get a lot from the fireside chat and the great asset, like the connections we're able to have and the talk. It's like a private, closer intimate, I think, compared to a lot of the call, like the Zoom call, which you have like hundreds of attendees and just one speaker, and you often don't get your question answered. In the fireside chat, which I really enjoy because you can kind of have this little back and forth with the speaker to discuss, and a lot of them are very open. They're also curious what the emerging fellows think. I think the community basically like the same cohort, like during my writing program, I get a lot of feedback from the cohort and from the previous cohort. And I think that really helps me to sharpen my ideas, also to look at, just to give a concrete example: I wrote about the open source intelligence and how that could be like kind of a dialogue with foresight practice. And during, because the scope is limited to like 800 words, there's like an ethics section, I feel like maybe I didn't have enough space to put in. But three of the fellow also know that's an important thing to discuss, because one thing you are shaping the future; on the other hand, the open-source intelligence has to do with privacy. So I think, okay, so now I kind of take that feedback and integrate it into my work.

Answer from Grace: 

I think what I'm most proud of is  my ability to think, my competence to think as a futurist has greatly expanded since I came into the program. I've been challenged, especially in every fireside chat, to think beyond what I traditionally think. And I think of myself as a creative and innovative  person as a designer. So coming into the foresight community, having the insights from this renowned futurist has challenged my innovative and creative thinking even beyond what I'm traditionally or normally do. I'm also very proud of my writing.

I've been able to work very closely with mentors and also with my peers. Sabrina has been very  helpful to me in improving the quality of my writing and my output. And I think that  without this network, I may have, I wouldn't have had the exposure and the understanding  that I've been getting through this network and it's one of the things I'm really proud of.

Q: What benefits have you, the selected fellows, experienced?

A1: The diversity of the applicants, whether through background, countries, cultures, also stages in life and in careers, so it's going to depend on the person. But for me personally, one of the benefits is having an exposure to the global network of futurists, being able to learn from as many avenues of how the futures might manifest. So that's in terms of learning experience.

One aspect of the program for us is to meet twice a month to have book discussion. And then the other session would be having the  fireside chat with a pioneer in the industry. So if you think about it, it would be really, really hard for someone who's just starting or someone who hasn't really broken into the network to secure a two-hour chat with some of these guys. So to me, that's very valuable because I've tried before to kind of connect and reach. But again, if you don't have that community aspect, it might be a little bit harder for you to kind of be in the presence of  that. So that's in terms of the learning experience. 

You get to have a 1-1 mentorship. If you have an idea, if you have a project, you want to actualize it, you want to take it to the next level and you want to kind of find your voice. For example, for me, I had a little bit of knowledge coming into the fellowship, but I had no idea what would my voice be like, or where do I see  myself in futures if I want to kind of morph into my identity as a futurist. So it really helped me  having those mentorship sessions to reflect on that, to kind of work out a plan,  and see where I can fit the connections in the network. As I said, you're connected with people  based on your interest and based on what you want to be. And the last thing I'll probably add here is the visibility. For the nature of the APF being a global organization, if you write a blog post, your audience is a global audience. So the likelihood of your topic getting broadcasted through different markets is very likely. And I think that might not be something that would happen through certain avenues.

So that's a skill, but it's not something easy. If you have like big ideas or very complex topics  that you want to articulate, you expect that you need to kind of like simplify it. Because it's a  magazine, the blog style, it has to be very simple. It has to resonate with more than one level of people who are interested in futures, the expert, and the people just, they have the appetite for it. If I can modify that question just a tiny bit in case we get more people to respond, and then you have a bunch of questions in the chat, what are you most proud of from your  fellowship? Wow, what am I most proud of? I would say the connections that I made, like the long left in relationships and connections, and the safe space I had to kind of experiment with my voice and my brand, as well as being able to have that kind of sandbox. One thing that I need to clarify, it's not a fast-tracked opportunity to employment or anything. So it's going to be your sandbox while you do other things on the side.

So I'm very proud to be part of it, and I'm proud of the long-lasting relationships I cultivated, whether with my peers or with my mentors. 

A2: I've been exposed to a wide network of futurists, and I've been able to sharpen my foresight capabilities by engaging them, especially through  the fireside chat. I also enjoy the peer network that's the peer mentoring program through the  writing that's allowed me to improve on my writing skills. And I think that for foresight work,  writing is one of the most profound ways we can reach across to our audience. And the program enables you to build on the capacity and reach and establish your credentials  as a professional futurist.

Q: What have been the most challenging aspects of the programme?

A: The fellowship takes a good amount of time. Especially if you want to really maximize the experience.  Because we all come from different walks of life, some people have more time, others have families/children, and full-time jobs… so you have to be prepared to give it what it needs.

Q: What would you not have been able to achieve on your own without this fellowship?

A: Meet incredible fellows from all over the world,  Quickly immerse myself in the professional futurist community,  hear directly from well respected practitioners, dedicate myself to the practice using the fellowship for accountability and encouragement.

Q: What are the differences between Emerging Fellows with other fellowships?

A: One thing that's different about this fellowship is that you have to be willing to be very generous to make it work. This is not a fellowship program that's so formal, well-defined and well-resourced. The things are not just going to be handed to you. You have to be willing to roll up your sleeves and co-create and co-design and collaborate with your fellows. When you're thinking about your application, it's important that we hear who you are. It is about balancing not only what you want to receive from the fellowship, but also what you want to give to the fellowship. It is the kind of fellowship where the more generous you are, the more that you will receive in the process.

*The Emerging Fellow 2025 Application will be closed on 30th September at noon London time.

Apply for Emerging Fellow 2025