Our Team

Jost Wagner is a professional facilitation expert and and participatory futures specialist residing in Bangkok. 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. He was lead organizer and conference director for the APFN conferences in 2018, 2019 onsite in Bangkok and the 2021 and 2022 virtual conferences. He is currently managing the APFN secretariat.

Professor Sohail Inayatullah is the inaugural 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. He is currently acting as the Chair of the Steering Committee of the APFN and is one of the founders.

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 is Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Engaged Foresight, Former Chair and Board of Directors of the APF, Co-Founder 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.

Dr. Kuo-Hua Chen is the dean and a professor at the Department of Education and Futures Design. He is also the 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 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 working currently also an UNICEF Youth Participation Specialist. He is a member of the Association of Professional Futurists.

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 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 Friedrich 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.

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.

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.

Edward Niedbalski is the Community Manager at the Asia-Pacific Futures Network and the Social Media Manager at the Journal of Futures Studies. He is currently pursuing a PhD at Tamkang University Department of Education and Futures Design, and works as an independent researcher and consultant in the field.

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. She acts also as the Co-Navigator for the APFN with a focus on the Pacific region.