4th International conference on Scenario Planning and Foresight

Dr Paul J.H. Schoemaker is an author, educator, researcher, and entrepreneur in strategic management, decision making, innovation, and leadership. He has published 125 articles and 13 books, including the influential Winning Decisions (with J. Edward Russo). He spent 12 years on the faculty at the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business and held a 20-month sabbatical with Royal Dutch/Shell’s scenario planning group. He later served for 15 years as Research Director at the Mack Institute for Innovation Management at Wharton, where he also taught strategy and decision-making, and was a visiting professor at CEDEP/INSEAD.

Paul founded and led Decision Strategies International, a global strategy consulting firm, for over 20 years before its sale to Heidrick & Struggles in 2016. He has chaired two companies, one in Dutch food additives, the other a U.S.-based salt distributor and continues to advise and support both private and non-profit organisations, including the Decision Education Foundation, which promotes critical thinking and decision-making skills in young people.

Paul founded and led Decision Strategies International, a global strategy consulting firm, for over 20 years before its sale to Heidrick & Struggles in 2016. He has chaired two companies—one in Dutch food additives, the other a U.S.-based salt distributor and continues to advise and support both private and non-profit organisations, including the Decision Education Foundation, which promotes critical thinking and decision-making skills in young people.

Professor Ted Fuller is Professor Emeritus and UNESCO Chair in Responsible Foresight for Sustainable Development at the University of Lincoln, UK. His academic work focuses on future-making and humanity’s relationship with its futures, with research spanning small enterprises, entrepreneurship, foresight, and anticipation. He has held senior roles at Durham, Teesside, and Lincoln, and was Editor-in-Chief of Futures journal for a decade.

Appointed UNESCO Chair in 2019, Ted leads a team at Lincoln collaborating with other UNESCO Chairs and partners in the Global South. Their work promotes responsible foresight—linking education, knowledge, and action to shape better futures—through joint research, advocacy, capacity building, educational exchanges, postgraduate teaching, and doctoral supervision.

Dr Valdir Ermida is a Sanitarian and Head of Planning at the Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Diseases (INI/Fiocruz), Brazil’s leading clinical research unit for public health. He holds a BSc in Psychology (State University of Rio de Janeiro), a Residency in Collective Health (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro), an MSc in Health Systems Planning and Management (Fiocruz), and a PhD in Business and Management (University of Manchester, UK). With 26 years’ experience in public health planning and 15 years focused on foresight, he co-founded the Brazilian Network of Foresight (2011) and co-organised its first national meeting (2012). In 2021, he translated Foresight for Science, Technology and Innovation into Portuguese.

His scenario planning work at Fiocruz is shaped by the institution’s distinctive model of industrial democracy, guided by the principle that “Democracy is Health”. This culture fosters innovative foresight methods, making Fiocruz a standout case globally. Its experience offers transferable insights for organisations seeking to integrate foresight with democratic governance.