Futures Researcher and Designer
2025 | UK
Collaborative sprint with RCA designers and NOC scientists
This sprint was in collaboration with National Oceanography Centre, UK and the Royal College of Art.
As interest in the Arctic grows, the focus is shifting from extraction to exploring what we don’t yet know, including what lies beneath the ice. NOC’s ambitions include sending autonomous vehicles under Arctic ice to answer fundamental questions about biogeochemistry, ecosystems, and climate. Yet Arctic science also raises critical questions: Who owns the knowledge produced? How do we ensure it is open, useful, and shared, especially with communities living closest to the change?
How might ocean technology development in the Arctic evolve over the coming decades, and what kinds of futures do different choices make possible?
Context
As Arctic ice melts and access increases, ocean research in the region is accelerating. Alongside scientific ambition, this raises critical questions about governance, ownership of knowledge, and the role of Indigenous and local communities in shaping how research technologies are designed and deployed.
I worked at the intersection of research synthesis, futures framing, and collaborative sense-making.
My contributions focused on:
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translating expert interviews and trend research into strategic uncertainties
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structuring futures conversations with scientists unfamiliar with foresight methods
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supporting the development of scenarios, roadmaps, and speculative artefacts as tools for reflection rather than prediction
Rather than producing a “solution,” the work aimed to expand the space of possibility and surface assumptions embedded in current research practices.
Research & Design Process
The sprint followed a foresight-to-design flow, moving from exploration to strategic reflection.
Horizon Scanning & Expert Conversations
Identifying key drivers shaping Arctic ocean research, including funding models, geopolitical interest, environmental change, and community involvement.
Scenario Development (2×2)
Mapping four distinct futures based on two critical uncertainties: global research funding levels and the degree of local community participation.
Preferred future & backcasting
Selecting a desirable future and working backward to identify strategic actions, capabilities, and roles needed today.
Speculative Artefacts
Designing future roles and tools to make abstract futures tangible and discussable.
Co-Artic Commons
The Arctic becomes a model of community-led stewardship, where ocean technologies are shaped by Indigenous knowledge systems and long-standing relationships with the environment. Research investment supports and amplifies existing local practices, enabling globally shared learning while decision-making, data ownership, and future direction remain firmly rooted in Arctic communities.
Deep Sea Race
Fueled by investment and geopolitical competition, the Arctic becomes a site of rapid technological expansion focused on data extraction and dominance rather than stewardship. Innovation accelerates, but at the cost of ecological harm, sidelined Indigenous knowledge, and research practices that prioritize scale over context, representation, and care.
Autonomous Arctic
The Arctic becomes a highly technologised research frontier driven by automation, AI, and remotely operated systems, enabling unprecedented data collection under extreme conditions. While scientific efficiency and scale increase, limited community involvement risks disconnecting research from local knowledge, raising questions about ownership, ethics, and long-term stewardship.
Echoes of the Past
Chronic underfunding and fragmented collaboration leave the Arctic reliant on incomplete, context-poor technologies that fail to respond to accelerating environmental change. As data gaps widen and traditional communities are marginalised, weakened emergency response and delayed climate action result in irreversible ecological and social loss.
Signal Scout
An Arctic observer who blends Indigenous seasonal knowledge with scientific data using perception-enhancing tools.
Response Rhythmist
A community responder who coordinates emergencies through rhythm, oral knowledge, and embodied sensing.
Whale Whisperer
A bridge between humans and animals, translating migration and communication into climate insight through non-invasive tech.
Cultural Tech Weaver
A co-designer who weaves Indigenous knowledge into digital tools while protecting data sovereignty.
This project strengthened my ability to work with technical experts, introduce futures methods in time-constrained settings, and use design not as solution-making, but as a sense-making and conversation-shaping tool for complex, ethically charged futures.
