Geoff is an imaginative, dot-connecting futurist with a knowledge integration background. At SFI, his focus areas were economic futures, open innovation, collective intelligence and game design. Prior to OCAD University, he was involved in higher education strategy and fundraising. This included leading a Canada 150 social innovation project to create a pan Canadian student mobility system. His overarching professional interests are in industrial strategy, policy and planning as well as in creating new communicative experiences.

Geoff currently works at the Ontario Ministry of Energy where he proposed, designed and now facilitates a strategic foresight program concerning the energy transition. In his work and as a fellow at the Canadian Society for Ecological Economics, he is interested in the use of strategic policy games for long -term planning. Geoff is always up for a chat and can be contacted through LinkedIn.

MRP Research Topic:

Rethinking Economy-Building Video Games: How might designers inspire new economic models through video game mechanics?

LinkedIn

Caitlin is a product manager and strategist who is passionate about solving complex problems in the world of tech. With a background in UX and UI design, Caitlin enjoys taking a human-centered approach in all of her work. She is currently a product manager focused on new product development at The Weather Network, where she conducts research, develops strategies, and leads teams to deliver digital products that generate growth.

Caitlin holds a BDes in Graphic Design, Certificates in User Experience Design and Front-End Web Development, is a Certified Scrum Product Owner, and as of January 2022, holds an MDes in Strategic Foresight and Innovation from OCAD University.

MRP Research Topic:

Foresight-Informed Agile For Resilient Product Strategy. Improving the Strategic Resilience of Agile Software Organizations in Ontario Canada

Linkedin

Eugene is a technology manager who is adept at connecting innovative ideas with practical delivery. With a background in mechatronics engineering and Internet of Things, he is experienced with working with teams across disciplines to design and deliver complex technology solutions. Along with his rigorous analysis and research are his skills in managing engineering teams and customer relationships.

He obtained his BASc in Mechatronics Engineering from University of Waterloo. He is also trained in team coaching through ORSC (organization relationship systems coaching). Having recently completed a Master of Design in Strategic Foresight & Innovation from OCADU, where his team won an award at the Association of Professional Futurists, he wants to steward complex systems towards sustainable and resilient futures.

MRP Research Topic:

Foresight-Informed Agile For Resilient Product Strategy. Improving the Strategic Resilience of Agile Software Organizations in Ontario Canada

LinkedIn

Alejandra is an Industrial Designer with experience in product innovation, Design Thinking, and trend research. Graduating from the SFI program in June 2022,she has a passion for environmental issues, animal welfare, and social justice, always seeking out ways to connect these elements, designing today for the challenges of tomorrow.

MRP Research Topic:

Circular Design ​Toolkit for Sustainable Futures

LinkedIn

Portfolio

Patricia is a Strategy and Foresight Analyst with experience in several multi-disciplinary teams, including STEM Education, Mechanical Engineering, Pharmacy, Healthcare, eSports, Television Production, and Experiential Marketing. She finds great joy in the intersection between science, art, and design, which led her to pursue a Bachelor's degree in Physical Science and a Masters's degree in Strategic Foresight and Innovation. Patricia is passionate about solving complex problems, youth education, and exploring innovative ways to develop skills for the future.

MRP Project Topic:

Play with Purpose: Exploring digital games to encourage gender equity in STEM

LinkedIn

Justine De Ridder is a foresight analyst and innovation designer with a passion for co-design and complex problem-solving. Justine’s background in engineering, design thinking, creative thinking, and foresight enables her to challenge the status quo and look at problems from a systems perspective.

Justine has worked in the strategic innovation and design field in the Netherlands and Canada across the private, startup, and government sectors including companies such as Quint Wellington Redwood in Amsterdam and Policy Horizons Canada.

Justine has completed the MDes in Strategic Foresight and Innovation, holds a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts from the Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, and is an IFTF certified foresight practitioner.

MRP Research Topic:

Knowledge Sharing in Organizations: A Present and Futures Study

LinkedIn

Maxim is a marketer, sustainable business and communications strategist, ICF-certified coach and facilitator with a passion for sustainable development and complex problem-solving.

Maxim started his career in an international creative and advertising agency, Leo Burnett, building it up to senior and executive positions in global companies, such as PepsiCo, Tetra Pak, Avon. Maxim is focused on developing and executing global strategies and campaigns in marketing, brand communications, employee experience and corporate social responsibility. He led multiple projects and internationally-awarded campaigns in Europe, the Middle East, and North America, including the Breast Cancer Support Center launch in Eastern Europe, a federal nutrition program for kids and adults, a national recycling project for UNDP Central Asia, etc.

In addition to the Master of Design in Strategic Foresight & Innovation, Maxim holds a diploma from the University of Toronto in Multimedia Storytelling and Omni-channel Content Marketing, a Bachelor of Business Administration & Accounting degree from KIMEP University, and a certificate of an ICF-certified coach from Erickson Coaching International.

MRP Research Topic:

Knowledge Sharing in Organizations: A Present and Futures Study

LinkedIn

Trisha MacLeod is a lifelong learner who is dedicated to expanding her use of strategic foresight and innovation. Her current pursuits are about understanding, acknowledging, and deconstructing systemic racism within healthcare settings. She has established herself as a leading voice in healthcare design and innovation with over 20 years of military service.

Her formal education in nursing, defence, design, and her interest in human-centred practices inform Trisha’s approach to complex problems. She has built a reputation for using an inclusive leadership approach to establish sustainable and thriving healthcare teams that are responsive to evolving health needs. Her approach is grounded in meaningful relationships and building capacities amongst domestic and international partners.

With her research partner Julia Kowal, Trisha is seeking to contribute to innovative research and the formation of foundational knowledge around social justice, inclusion, diversity, accessibility and belonging.

MRP Project Topic:

In Service of All: Co-Designing an Inclusive Person-Partnered Model of Care in the Canadian Forces Health Services

LinkedIn

Julia Kowal is a coordinator of patient and caregiver engagement in a Toronto-based healthcare institution. As part of a small team, Julia facilitates the partnerships between staff, patients and caregivers across the organization so decision making, policies, research studies, initiatives and resources can be co-created in a way that authentically reflects the lived experience of healthcare users.

Julia has applied her human-centered systems approach to initiatives across the fields of education, transportation, and labor.

In partnership with fellow SFI-er Trisha MacLeod, Julia has leveraged her interest in human-centered design, systems-thinking, foresight, and participatory research methods to create their major research project on co-designing a military healthcare system that is inclusive, diverse, equitable, and accessible (IDEA). In Service of All: Co-Designing an Inclusive Person-Partnered Model of Care in the Canadian Forces Health Services

MRP Research Topic:

In Service of All: Co-Designing an Inclusive Person-Partnered Model of Care in the Canadian Forces Health Services

Angie Eriko Fleming is curious about how to engage in healthy conversations, particularly those that create the conditions for epiphanies and new health-promoting paradigms to emerge. She loves leaning into the awkward, interconnected taboo topics that surround our bodies, such as menstruation, sex, digestion, hormones, and mental health.

Normalizing these topics by talking about them is her primary motive, with the intention of fostering informed, agentic, and self-empowered lives. By combining her skills in data, design, and dialogue with systems thinking, she designs and facilitates conversations that can scale across systems to promote requisite diversity.

Her objective is to elevate and amplify the voices and perspectives of people who are often neglected in decision-making, with the purpose of advancing equity, liberation and freedom for all.

MRP Research Topic:

Body Literacy: Our Vital Knowledge, Our Vital Power

LinkedIn

From Bahrain, Ali Milad is a design strategist with an affinity for problem framing and complexity taming.

Prior to joining the program, Ali worked across roles in business development, marketing, and business analytics for Unilever Arabia in Dubai, UAE. He also holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, USA.

His interest in the arts, cultural production, and design for social innovation drove him to center his Major Research Project on Bahrain’s arts sector. Conducted by a local researcher within a localized setting, and with systemic design principles in mind; it explores and unpacks the lived experience of Bahrain’s artmakers to contextualize the current state and provide policy recommendations for arts sector development in Bahrain.

Ali is currently packing his bags in preparation for a move to London, UK, where he will be working as a consultant within the Deloitte Innovation & Ventures team.

MRP Research Topic:

Creative Culture Making: Policy Directions for Arts Sector Development in Bahrain

LinkedIn

Carly Benson is an emergency management professional with ten years' experience working with municipal governments in Alberta and British Columbia on disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. She has responded to some of Canada's largest disasters, including the 2013 Southern Alberta floods and 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire, which have fuelled her passion for rethinking how Canada approaches disaster recovery and the urgent need to improve recovery outcomes to better prepare communities for future disasters.

MRP Research Topic:

Resilient Recovery: A systems analysis of disaster recovery in Canada

LinkedIn

A seasoned strategic leader with 20+ years progressive management and leadership experience across various sectors and industries - Retail Marketing, Luxury Goods, Fashion, Not-for-Profit, Environmental Tech, B2B, and Higher Education. In addition to the Master of Design in Strategic Foresight & Innovation, Amy holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Waterloo, a post-graduate diploma in Environmental Management from Niagara College, and is a Communications & Advertising Accredited Professional.

MRP Research Topic:

A Story of Change: Exploring the Intersect of Indigenous Knowledge(s), Creativity and Innovation, and Power Dynamics as a Catalyst for Change

Jeremy is an entrepreneur, designer, arts administrator, business strategist, and marketer. He has designed and co-founded several organizations including the social enterprise Public Displays of Affection, the charity World Design Weeks, and the nonprofit DesignTO.

In his spare time he appreciates art, design, meditation, dodgeball, making furniture, building campervans, and illustrating.

Currently, he is the Co-founder and Executive Director of DesignTO, Canada’s most prominent design festival, and part owner of The Van Dads, a custom campervan design and build company.

MRP Research Topic:

Let’s Dance! Applying Innovation Adoption Theory and Human-Centered Design to Get More People Dancing Together With Systems Thinking

LinkedIn

Suesan Danesh is an experienced change management practitioner. She is equal parts a communications strategist, a change leadership coach and advisor, a stakeholder consultation and engagement designer, a facilitator, a change impact assessor, and a project manager.

Suesan holds a Bachelor in Political Science from the University of Ottawa. She has experience in both the public and private sectors, and primarily around change and transformation initiatives and projects.

Suesan is currently working in the Canadian federal government, providing change management expertise to complex enterprise-wide modernization programs. Through years of helping make change happen, she emphasizes the importance of the process of determining what should change, why, and the true nature of change to its eventual impact and success.

She hopes to use her experience and knowledge, and the tools she has acquired through SFI to help organizations better identify, define and design meaningful and sustainable innovation and transformation opportunities.

MRP Research Topic:

Let’s Dance! Applying Innovation Adoption Theory and Human-Centered Design to Get More People Dancing Together With Systems Thinking

LinkedIn

Qian Feng is an experienced learning & development professional who is passionate about cultivating a culture of learning to unlock our collective potential. She has extensive experience building large-scale capability transformation programs for top companies in the life sciences industry.

Qian holds a Master of Science in chemical biology from McMaster University. She brings scientific and strategic thinking, creativity, design, and strong execution to her work.

She is passionate about helping organizations create meaningful and fulfilling work and is always looking for ideas to engage people in learning.

MRP Research Topic:

Let’s Dance! Applying Innovation Adoption Theory and Human-Centered Design to Get More People Dancing Together With Systems Thinking

LinkedIn

Martha is your friendly neighborhood semiotician, strategist, futurist, and friend. Her graduate work at SFI focused on organizational innovation, systemic consumerism, and cultural futures.

Prior to OCAD, Martha spent the last decade working with multidisciplinary teams across a wide range of sectors (law, entertainment, advertising, not-for-profit, tech). This diversity of experience proved to be the perfect launchpad for exploring the world of empathic, human-centered design.

On the page or on the stage, Martha is passionate about telling stories to connect with people about complex issues, while planting seeds of hope for the future.

She holds an HBA degree in Semiotics and Communication Theory from the University of Toronto, a postgraduate certificate in International Marketing from Humber College, and an impending MDes in Strategic Foresight and Innovation from OCAD University

MRP Research Topic:

Working Through It: Reimagining Grief and Bereavement in the Workplace Post Covid-19

Portfolio

LinkedIn

Michael is a Professional Engineer and an Executive Director of an Engineering, Architecture, and Planning consulting firm. Michael has contributed to municipal water and wastewater treatment and conveyance projects in various capacities as an engineer, project manager, and contract administrator.

In addition to engineering, business, and infrastructure, Michael is interested in applying an ethical and pragmatic framing to real-world problems, with a particular focus on uncertainty.

Michael holds a Bachelors in Environmental Engineering from the University of Guelph, a Masters in Engineering from the University of Toronto, and has recently completed a Masters in Design in Strategic Foresight and Innovation at OCADu.

MRP Research Topic:

Should We? Exploring Change Agents' Conceptions of Epistemic Humility

Alexis’s academic background includes biology, psychology, kinesiology, sustainable community development, and strategic foresight and innovation.

She is a whole-hearted generalist and creative problem solver with ten years of experience working in conservation, energy management, and economic development.

She is currently a Social Innovation Fellow at the Center for Changemaking and Social Innovation at Georgian College.

MRP Research Topic:

Why is it so hard to think about the future? An autoethnographic exploration of future thinking and the future self.

LinkedIn