This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features the independent futurist Jonas Drechsel, who is also a member and co-initiator of the dynamic collective practice youngK Berlin; which is interdisciplinary, exploratory, and holistic.

His mission as a solo freelance futurist is to make desirable futures more likely. As a critical futurist, he thinks about how the status quo works and what doesn't. As a real utopian, Jonas participates in the creation of exemplary projects that anticipate a better world. And thereby create spaces of possibility.

We discuss those issues in this episode, where he explains why working with the youngK collective is so fun, as their culture, exchange, and collaboration contributes to shaping futures with joy and dedication. He also covers the leading-edge methodologies that he’s using, along with a piece he’s just written for the Journal for Futures Studies.

And we cover the recent ‘Futurist Archetypes’ report that he produced, which has gained a lot of attention in the futurist-community. Whilst he insists that these archetypes are ironic and deliberately exaggerated, they’re also both funny and uncannily accurate. The crucial question for futurists is, of course, in which of them might you recognise yourself?

So, I hope you enjoy the conversation!

This episode of The New Abnormal features Alice Dimond, who leads Mō Āpōpō Future-Makers at Tokona te Raki, a project that equips young people to imagine and create better futures.

This includes designing a toolkit grounded in Māori perspectives and stories, empowering young people to use these perspectives to navigate complexity and drive transformative change.

In addition, she's a Fellow with Next Generation Foresight Practitioners, an Advisory Trustee at Ako Ōtautahi Learning City Trust and the National New Zealand Lead for the Futures Methods from Around the World project, where she explores how Māori worldviews, ways of thinking, organising, and acting can unlock new pathways to better futures.

Alice has presented at global forums such as the Dubai Future Forum, World Futures Day, and the Building Hopeful Futures Festival. She's committed to using innovation to challenge dominant thinking, create new solutions, and drive change.

So, we discuss all the above and I hope you enjoy the conversation!

This episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Marianna Maki-Teeri, Director of Foresight at Futures Platform.

She’s an internationally recognized futurist with 15 years of experience in strategic foresight & futures studies, and helps organizations around the world make sense of change before it happens.

At Futures Platform, Marianna leads an analysis team in translating emerging signals and “what ifs” into actionable insights, while advising clients on building and scaling their own foresight capabilities. Her work serves as a constant bridge between practice and theory.

As a doctoral researcher at the Finland Futures Research Centre (FFRC), she investigates the synergy between human and machine intelligence in foresight work, exploring if and how AI can augment our capacity to reach more impactful outcomes.

Marianna is driven by the conviction that foresight helps us become better architects of tomorrow. In an era of constant disruption, she works to ensure that systemic transformation is a deliberate choice rather than a passive drift.

So, I hope you enjoy listening to Marianna as much as I did!