Cynthia selin

Scholar, Foresight Expert, Strategy Consultant

  • About

    Dr. Cynthia Selin is a future-oriented scholar and consultant focused on sustainability and the governance of emerging technologies. By creating new methods and concepts for confronting uncertainties, her work stimulates improved strategic capacities and foresight.

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  • RESEARCH

    Dr. Selin explores six overlapping themes.

    Symbolizing governing emerging technologies images shows gears, hexagons, triangles, and squares in blues, yellows, and oranges, emerge from the lower left corner. they become less chaotic as they move towards the right of the frame

    Governing Emerging Technologies

    Inventing and investigating new methods to care for the political, social, and ethical implications of new technologies

    Symbolizing sustainable futures, image shows an abstract, line-drawn landscape shows mountains and depressions above and below a horizon line. a large yellow circle sits at the horizontal and vertical center. additional smaller yellow circles, as well as black and grey plus signs and connected lines, scatter the landscape.

    Sustainable Futures

    Helping to create more just energy transitions and better urban adaptations to navigate our climate and ecological crises

    Symbolizing democratizing innovation, images shows a combination of filled-in and outlined circles of various colors are connected by a plethora of grey lines. it's a chaotic network, emerging from the bottom of the image, becoming less chaotic as it rises towards the mid-point of the image, where it stops. depth is evoked through clear colors, towards the front, and nearly-white colors towards the "back."

    Democratizing Innovation

    Developing new modalities of public and stakeholder deliberation to diversify and improve the inputs to decision-making

    Symbolizing scenario planning image shows a black line net-like structure with nodes, like a network, folds and moves from the bottom left to the top right. in front, black line spherical shapes sit. behind, are a variety of sized and colored circles, including a large yellow one in the lower left, an orange circle in the upper right, and blue, purple, orange, and yellow circles throughout. light lines, connecting light circles, as well as lightly colored plus signs, appear in the background.

    Scenario Planning

    Designing strategies to sense and prepare for change, enabling people and organizations to question assumptions, broaden perspectives, and build greater resilience

    Symbolizing climate art and science images shows lines, circles, and half circles emerge from the top of a half-sphere. on the surface of the half-sphere, dots of multiple sizes are connected with lines.

    Climate Art and Science

    Curating experiences and inquiries to enable more creative, evocative, collaborative, and useful practices of anticipation of our changing climate

    Symbolizing alternative imaginations, image shows pieces of black-and-white drawn landscapes appear within circles that sit on top of orange, green, yellow, and blue circles of various sizes. emerging from the lower left corner, the circles sit amongst spirals, plus-signs, and long curved lines.

    Alternative Imaginations

    Exploring how transdisciplinary spaces can encourage more eclectic and deeper understandings of living well with uncertain socio-technical systems

  • consulting

     

    the Scenaric logo includes 2 green circles, the right one larger than the left, sitting astride the middle of a green line. on the right side of the green line, there are 3 small horizontal orange lines and one orange doc. All sit above the word "scenaric" and symbolizes strategic foresight consulting

    Strategic Foresight Consulting

    Dr. Selin works extensively with scenarios and strategy across an array of organizations including large companies, laboratories, cities, museums, utilities, non-profits, and multi-stakeholder groups.

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  • WRITING

    Dr. Selin's award-winning writing on futures, governance, and sustainability has appeared in esteemed academic journals and in works by major publishers.

     

  • TEACHING

    Dr. Selin teaches at the University of Oxford and is a former professor at Arizona State University. She also provides executive training and customized educational opportunities for organizations.

    University of Oxford logo

    UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

    Said Business School

    Since 2013, Dr. Selin is an Associate Fellow at the Univesity of Oxford where she teaches in the Oxford Scenarios Programme, offers executive education, hosts events like the Oxford Futures Forum, and conducts research into scenario planning and strategy.

    Dr. Selin stands before a backdrop, hands up, speaking to an audience in front of her

    PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

    Customized Learning for Organizations

    Dr. Selin designs immersive and digital learning experiences enabling people and organizations to prepare for unpredictable futures and better navigate change. Dr. Selin's priority focus is on building capacities in strategy, foresightful action, and better decision making.

    Arizona State University, College of Global Futures logo

    ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY

    School for the Future of Innovation in Society | School of Sustainability

    For nearly 20 years, Dr. Selin mentored students and taught courses at ASU like Prototyping Futures, Innovation in Society, The Politics & Ethics of Smart Cities, and Futures Thinking & Strategy. She co-founded the MA in Futures & Design which combines future-focused theories and practices, including speculative design, science fiction, and foresight studies to investigate and craft alternative futures.

  • Education

    Dr. Selin's interdisciplinary educational background focused on science, technology, society, and futures.

    Copenhagen Business School logo

    Copenhagen Business School 

    Copenhagen, Denmark

    Institute for Politics, Philosophy and Management

    PhD Knowledge and Management

    Dissertation: Volatile Visions: Transactions in Anticipatory Knowledge, 2006

    Roskilde University and Maastricht University logos are placed side-by-side

    Roskilde University | Roskilde, Denmark

    Maastricht University | Maastricht, Netherlands

    MA Science and Technology Studies

    Thesis: Professional Dreamers: The Art and Science of Scenario Planning, 2000

    University of California logo

    University of California, Santa Cruz 

    Santa Cruz, CA, USA

    BA American Studies

    Honors thesis: The Promise and Peril of Nanotechnology, 1996

  • CONTACT

    Get in touch to explore a collaboration.

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