Somebody, somewhere, is making decisions about what matters, and who matters in our world.

The current systems do not make it easy for us to ask questions or equip people with the urgency to bring about change.

 

Our Challenge Minors

The Future Thinkers curriculum focuses on climate justice, equitable technologies, eco-social design, and humanizing data. Students explore sustainable solutions that benefit all humans, bridge societal gaps, and prioritize ethics and empathy. It equips them to shape a future that is technologically advanced, fair, inclusive, and environmentally conscious.

 

Climate Justice

Challenge the ‘business-as-usual thinking’ about our climate and learn why and how to think and act in a multi-species way about the present and future.

Innovating for Humans

Investigate the boundary blurring between the physical, digital, and biological worlds to tackle the promise of a future that makes claims about a healthier, more equitable, and more productive life.

 

Equitable Technologies

Ask and answer hard questions about how our digital systems and devices can serve a more just and equitable society.

Humanising Data

Explore behind the curtain to probe at the ways machines generate data to insert themselves into our humanity, and what, if anything, we ought to do about it.

 

“Future Thinkers are grounded and accountable, able to think in complex and interconnected ways, working with communities for social, technological and climate justice.”

 

Who is a Future Thinker?

For many people and communities, the world they experience is unjust, unequal, and unfair. Equipped with the understanding of how systems can interact to produce inequality, environmental calamity, and to maintain the status quo, the Future Thinkers we need are those keen to  generate change alongside those most in need. 

 
 

Meet the Makers

  • Jenna Condie

    As a Senior Lecturer, Jenna’s teaching and research focuses on the relationships between social media, communities, and social action. She was one of our Curriculum Champions for Future Thinkers, sharing the role with James Gourley.

  • James Gourley

    James is a senior lecturer in English and teaches literature. With Jenna, James shared the role of Curriculum Champion for Future Thinkers.

  • Chris Jones

    Chris is a senior lecturer in Microbiology and uses next-gen tools to study microbial biogeography. With Mariam Darestani, Chris led the STEM Curriculum Challenge.

  • Thilakshi Mallawa Arachchi

    Thilakshi is a PhD researcher and a social activist from Sri Lanka. Her transdisciplinary research examines social media literacy and civic action, with a particular focus on the experiences of displaced women.

  • Max Ashcroft-Smith

    Max completed his Bachelor of Creative Arts degree at WSU and now works as a designer, illustrator and storyteller.

  • Alex Donoghue

    Alex completed a Master of Research,writing a thesis on ludonarrative resonance in video games, and now works as an Audience Researcher at SBS.

  • Emma Caughey

    Emma studied to become a high school Science Teacher while at WSU, and is now working at a secondary in Sydney.

  • Jackson Edwards

    Jackson is studying a Bachelor of Social Sciences, majoring in Sociology and Anthropology.

  • Morgan Drum

    Morgan completed a Bachelor of Arts and is working as New Columbo Plan Fellow in Foreign Affairs and Trade.

  • Lexie Johnson

    Lexie finished her degree in Medical Science from WSU and is now working as a Medical Lab Technician in the field of microbiology.

The Festival of Action

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.