Educating researchers in the metadiscipline of foresight

What is it about?

The science of Foresight differs from the commonplace notion of what a science is because it is a metadiscipline—a logical type of science higher than the logical type of disciplinary sciences. It is practical, uses transdisciplinary processes that combine scientific disciplines, and often examines counterfactuals in a scientific manner. This paper looks at these characteristics of Foresight in order to identify and advocate for changes in North American higher education to provide earlier and more efficient opportunities for Foresight researchers and users to obtain the skills they need. The methods of scientific education that have served us well in the past are inadequate for metadisciplinary sciences such as Foresight. The paper discusses what metadisciplinarity is, using a variety of examples, and distinguishes it from disciplines and ways of crossing disciplinary boundaries. Understanding the essential characteristics of Foresight as a metadisciplinary science leads to identifying current best practices and possible educational innovations in undergraduate education that will facilitate obtaining Foresight skills. Throughout the paper, examples are drawn from the education and professional experience of the author in the United States and Europe.

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