ForesightWorks Focus Group Sessions

The ASAE Research Foundation is finalizing five new ASAE ForesightWorks drivers of change to be released this year, and we need your help.  We need participants for 1 hour long focus group for virtual discussions being held at varying times from May 17 until June 8*.  Applicants will schedule their own time and once all of our time slots are filled this opportunity will close.  

Focus group conversations that will shape the fourth page “Take Action” content for each new driver. We're organizing two discussions with eight volunteers each for each driver of change. 

The drivers to be discussed:  

• The Post-COVID World: As the worst pandemic in more than a century ebbs through the early 2020s, some of its effects will prove ephemeral, as deeply rooted habits and institutions return to their previous states, while other trends that have been kicked into higher gear will accelerate. Associations will face an evolving, patchwork environment of regressing and accelerating trends. 
• Evolving Cities: Urban areas are changing under the influence of unfolding economic, environmental, technological, and social trends. COVID-19 has spawned many acute effects, some of which are proving persistent—especially those involving where people work. Meanwhile, climate change impacts on cities are becoming immediate rather than theoretical. 
• Changing Science: Where and by whom the global scientific enterprise is being conducted is changing. New regions—especially East Asia—are developing research centers and funding science on the scale of traditional science hubs in the West, while in the West, citizen science and DIY research are supplementing and challenging traditional scientific institutions. At the same time, falling trust and rising sociopolitical polarization are impacting science, while automation brings new changes and challenges. 
• American Instability: The American system of rules-based democracy is under strain. Polarization and distrust are pushing it beyond gridlock toward potential breakdown, in which laws are not followed, election results are rejected, and political violence occurs on a growing scale. This could create a more uncertain and insecure operating environment for associations and their members.
• The Changing Meaning of Race: Race is a social concept, not a biological fact, and as such it has undergone multiple historical shifts, especially in the United States. Today the meaning of race is changing yet again, driven by demographics and intensive cultural and political attention to race and racism. Association leaders need to understand these shifts as their organizations and members navigate the evolving terrain.