Future thinking is central to her research, which additionally focuses on energy transition. Sietske Veenman, lecturer at the Department of Environmental Governance and Politics (Radboud University): ‘I want to get a clear grasp on how the the future plays a role in our day-to-day lives.’ At her previous employer, it hit her. She was coordinating a project on foresight and thought: “It’s strange - I studied environmental sciences and got my PhD but never learned to think about the future. The economic crisis hit shortly after. It became apparent that hardly anyone had thought about the future.” Sietske Veenman knew that she had found her future research area. “In the beginning, people were sceptical. I used to hear ‘here comes Sietske with her crystal ball,’ every so often. People did not understand how to do scientific research into the future; after all, there are no facts about it. But I mainly research how we use the futures in the present.” Veenman deliberately speaks of futures in the plural. Because the future is not fixed. “On the one hand, we make futures: we create a certain future through our daily choices and exclude other futures. On the other hand, we use futures. We have certain expectations for the future and anticipate it by making decisions in the present.” Energy transition In addition to futures, Veenman is concerned with the energy transition. She received a KIEM grant from the NWO earlier this year. “It is intended to help with research into how stories play a role in the district energy transition. Together with the Haagse Hogeschool and the HAN, I am researching what futures various stakeholders are anticipating. The idea is, if they talk about it and start understanding each other, they will be more in tune with each other.” In the KIEM project, the researchers will link up with existing city labs in The Hague and Arnhem. We are cooperating with various stakeholders, such as residents, municipalities, energy companies and housing corporations. “The stakeholders have already been interviewed about their visions for the future. We are going to map out these different visions of the future and discuss them in workshops with the stakeholders.” Getting people involved At the same time, Veenman is working on a different project. With several colleagues, she is researching energy transitions and energy poverty in Arnhem and Nijmegen. “We are focusing specifically on people who do not speak up of their own accord. We look at what kind of futures these people are anticipating and compare these the to futures anticipated in policy to see if we can involve them in the energy transition. The projects provide empirical information that helps me to get a clearer image of how the future can play a role in our daily lives.” For Veenman, the KIEM project will be successful if it leads to new projects. “I also hope to show that thinking about futures helps people move forward in their decision-making processes and that people see how important it is to think about futures.” She is trying to bring this awareness to the education sector too. “Thinking about the future is already in our Master’s programme to some extent, but it is not integrated into the Bachelor's yet. In fact, it should be given a place in primary education. We live in a time when we cannot be passive about the future. We need to think about how futures play a role and which ones we create in everyday life. Not as things that come to us, that we can predict. But as phenomena that we create for ourselves and can use.” Profit without loss is about responsible governance which aims for a sustainable society. Research and education at the Nijmegen School of Management has a specific focus on solving issues at large in society. Want to know more? Visit our website for more information about our themes.