The Association of Professional Futurists (APF) recently announced the selection of the Center for Engaged Foresight Futures Learning Advisor Shiela R Castillo as one of the APF Emerging Fellows for 2021. The Emerging Fellows Program is a year-long writing program on specific strategic foresight issues. According to the APF website “Emerging Fellowships are awarded to some of the most promising new futurists in order to give them a platform for cultivating their voice and to illustrate current futures issues.”

Every month, Emerging Fellows write about their specific topic to be posted on the APF website, which will all be collated into a publication at the end of the year. For 2021, Emerging Fellows will be writing about disruptions and wild cards that have the potential to occur in the next ten years or so.

Ms. Castillo will be working on the topic “Biodiversity Loss”. She will explore the causes of biodiversity loss and the reasons why it is an important strategic foresight issue, as well as its influence on and interactions with several other wild cards.
Other selected APF Emerging Fellows for 2021 are Chris Mayer of West Point, USA; Anna Kyoya of Nairobi, Kenya; Marguerite Coetzee of South Africa; and Fazidah bte Ithnin of Melaka, Malaysia. The Emerging Fellows Program is curated by Stephen Aguilar-Millan, Director of the European Futures Observatory.

This year the writing program is expanded with other futures learning opportunities for the fellows such as collaborative gaming, participation in webinars, and other platforms to develop their voice as emerging futurists.