Our Team

The APFN Working Committee is the steering committee of the Asia-Pacific Futures Network. It consists of a small group of people that have demonstrated strong commitment in promoting Futures Thinking and Foresight in Asia and the Pacific in recent years. It is led by a Chief Navigator selected from the committee.

The APFN Visionary Board consists of up to 13 experienced and influential advisors who are passionate about helping us solve pressing global, regional and local problems using the power of foresight and futures thinking. They help the Working Committee in giving guidance and sharing ideas how to achieve APFN’s mission and vision. They all have a proven track record of using Futures Thinking in their own work and/or promoting Futures Literacy.

Working Committee

  • Jost Wagner

    Jost Wagner is a senior expert in facilitation and participatory futures residing in Bangkok. He was lead organizer and conference director for the APFN conferences in 2018, 2019 and 2021. He is currently the chief navigator of the APFN and the founder and Managing Director of the consulting agency The Change Initiative Co. Ltd. in Bangkok.

  • Sohail Inayatullah

    Professor Sohail Inayatullah is the UNESCO Chair of Futures Studies; professor at the Graduate Institute of Futures Studies, Tamkang University, Taiwan; Adjunct professor in the Faculty of Arts and Business, the University of the Sunshine Coast; and Associate with Melbourne Business School, the University of Melbourne.

  • Ora-orn Poocharoen

    Dr. Ora-orn is the founding Director of the School of Public Policy at Chiang Mai University. She is a former United Nation’s Committee of Experts for Public Administration (CEPA). She was an Assistant Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore between 2007-2016.

  • Shermon Cruz

    Shermon Cruz is Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Engaged Foresight, Chair and Board of Directors of the APF, Co-Founder and VP of the Philippine Futures Thinking Society, Chair of the Millennium Project Philippines Node and a Research Fellow at the Development Academy of the Philippines Graduate School of Public and Development Management Futures Thinking Course.

  • Kuo-Hua Chen

    Dr. Kuo-Hua Chen is professor of Department of Education and Futures Design and Director of Center for Futures Intelligence and Research (CFAR), Tamkang University, Taiwan. He was director of Graduate Institute of Futures Studies and the Center for General Education and Core Curriculum and Dean of College of Global Research and Development.

  • Adam Sharpe

    Adam Sharpe founded youth futures think tank and transformative foresight consultancy Futurely, co-founded the online futures learning platform Metafuture School, and consults for multinational organisations including the UN and the Asian Development Bank. He is a member of the Association of Professional Futurists.

  • Seong-Won Park

    Dr. Seongwon Park is Research Fellow at the National Assembly Futures Institute in South Korea. He received his PhD in the Alternative Futures Program from the Department of Political Science at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Dr. Park researches and teaches emerging issues, alternative futures, social change theory, foresight methodology, and self-efficacy towards postulated futures.

  • Shakil Ahmed

    Shakil Ahmed is an educator, futurist and storyteller at Ridiculous Futures and country lead in Bangladesh at EdTech Hub. As a futurist, he has explored the futures of health in 2030 with BRAC, the futures of education in 2041 with the Prime Minister's Office in Bangladesh and the futures of work in 2040 with young trade union leaders and Freidrich Ebert Stiftung. In 2019, he has been recognized as a Young Global Changer at the Global Solutions Summit in Berlin and as a Joseph Jaworksi Next Generation Foresight Practitioner by the School of the International Futures.

  • John A. Sweeney

    Dr. John A. Sweeney is an award-winning author, designer, and futurist. As a practitioner, consultant, and educator, John has organized, managed, and facilitated workshops and seminars, multi-stakeholder projects, and foresight gaming systems in over 45 countries on five continents with participants from around the world. At present, John is a Senior Research Fellow at Westminster International University in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He also currently serves as Co-Editor-in-Chief of World Futures Review: A Journal of Strategic Foresight.

  • Zainal Abidin Sanusi

    Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zainal Abidin Sanusi is the Director of the Sejahtera Centre for Sustainability and Humanity at International Islamic University Malaysia and an Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science at the same university. His current research interests are Sustainability Science, Education for Sustainable Development, and Public Policy Analysis.

  • Idayu Mumtaz Iskandar

    Idayu Mumtaz Iskandar is an administrative officer at Sejahtera Centre for Sustainability and Humanity, IIUM, managing the Secretariat of the UNESCO Chair in Futures Studies: Anticipation for Sustainability and Wellbeing.

  • Emily Sharp

    Emily Sharp is the Director for Strategy, Performance & Learning at the Pacific Community - SPC. She has been leading futures thinking and integrated planning processes within SPC to co design, monitor, adapt and advance the Pacific Community strategic direction.

Visionary Board

  • Anita Hazenberg

    Anita Hazenberg is the Director of the Innovation Centre Directorate at the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation in Singapore. Anita has extensive experience in policing and brought the discipline of foresight into law enforcement

  • Jyh-Horng Lin

    Dr. Jyh-Horng Lin is the Vice President for Lanyang Campus and Professor af the Department of International Business, Tamkang University, Taiwan.

  • Ivana Milojević

    Dr. Ivana Milojević is a researcher, writer and educator and has held professorships at several universities in Australia, Serbia and Taiwan. She is also the co-founder of the consultancy Metafuture, an educational think tank that explores alternative and preferred futures.

  • Dzulkifli Abdul Razak

    Professor Dzulkifli Abdul Razak is the Rector of the International Islamic University Malaysia. He was the ‎Vice Chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) from 2000-2011.

  • Sarah Mecartney

    Sarah Mecartney is the Principal Strategy Adviser at the Pacific Community - SPC. She is an advocate of participatory approaches in futures thinking informed by Pacific cultures and practice.

  • Hyeon Kon Kim

    Dr. Hyeon Kon Kim is the President of National Assembly Futures Institute of Korea. The Institute was established in May 2018 with the aim of predicting and analyzing changes in the future environment and deriving mid- to long-term national development strategies.

  • Mei-Mei Song

    Dr. Mei-Mei Song is the former Director at the Center for Futures Intelligence and Research (CFAR) and Associate Professor at the
    Graduate Institute of Futures Studies (GIFS) at Tamkang University. She is currently Adjunct Associate Professor at D-School at National Taiwan University.

  • Theresa Mathawaphan

    Theresa is the Chief Strategy Officer and the Deputy Executive Director at the National Innovation Agency of Thailand (NIA).

  • Diana Cheong

    Dr Diana Cheong is the Executive Director and Chief Researcher at the Center for Strategic and Policy Studies (CSPS) in Brunei Darussalam. She is also the Director of the Brunei Futures Initiative

  • Cheryl Chung

    Ms Cheryl Chung is currently Head of Singapore, Kantar Public. Formerly she was the Co-Director of the Executive Education department at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. Prior to that Ms. Chung worked in the Singapore Government where she led futures projects across several ministry portfolios for 8 years.

  • Rhodora V. Avanza

    Dr. Rhodora V. Azanza is currently the President- Academician of the National Academy of Science and Technology, Philippines (NAST-PHL) and Professor Emeritus of the University of the Philippines-Diliman (UPD).

  • Nur Anisah Abdullah

    Dr. Anisah is an Associate Professor and teaches primarily Futures Studies at Tamkang University in Taiwan. She is also the Managing Editor of the Journal of Futures Studies and has consulted for various organizations on Futures Thinking and Strategic Foresight.