Towards a new research program

New director – new research focus. That is how it works at the Institute for Futures Studies. This means that the new director Gustaf Arrhenius will also act as a research director and is now creating the research program that will guide the research at the institute the next few years.

The research program will be formally approved by the board in February, but Gustaf has come a long way in his thoughts about its contents. In an interview with the magazine Universitetsläraren he tells Gunnel Åhlander about his thoughts.

The first of the five parts of the program is perhaps the most obvious one. It's about future generations and the responsibility we have towards those who are not yet born. It is an area that Gustaf is already known to dwell upon. The subject has become more prominent in recent years in the context of climate change but there are many political decisions that can affect the size of a population.

– The main issue here is how we can include future generations and their welfare in our decision making, an issue that has a direct connection to climate change, overpopulation, the extinction of animal species and the survival of mankind. What institutional changes do we need to do if we are to manage our responsibilities to future generations?

The issue of future generations is also affected by another part of the research program, democracy for the 21st century. Several countries are moving towards a more democratic rule, but at the same time democracy is threatened by non-elected institutions and multinational companies. It's also about who should be allowed to vote on a decision for it to be considered a democratic one.

– We need to ask fundamental questions about the scope and limits of democratic governance. What issues should be decided democratically? Can the interest of future generations be represented in the current democratic order? Who should have the right to participate in the decision-making?

A third part of the program deals with the development of technology and how it affects the future of mankind. This is particularly important concerning the technology that affects our biology; technology that affects our physical, cognitive and affective abilities, such as artificial intelligence and nanotechnology. We also need to be able to estimate the risks associated with the technology we want to use.

– We will surely live healthy lives much longer than we do today, but stopping the aging process will bring big changes. What will happen with pensions? With jobs?

In the interview Gustaf mentions two more parts of the forthcoming research program. One of them is about discrimination, sexism and racism and ties partly to research which was begun at the institute under former director Peter Hedström. This includes how we should understand and relate to the concepts of race and ethnicity, and how stereotypes arise and are reproduced.

The fifth part of the research program is all about competition and its consequences. The research will dive deep into what competition actually is and how it affects for example organizations, professions and innovation.

The research program will involve researchers from both the humanities and the social disciplines, and involve partnerships with other research institutions. The various parts of the program will be presented in more detail here on the site in the spring of 2015.