Organisation
The Institute for Futures Studies is an independent research foundation. Its board has nine members who are appointed by the Government, and its current chair is Bengt Westerberg. The board appoints a director as both administrative and scientific head of the Institute operation. The current director is Joakim Palme, who heads a small secretariat and a staff of some 50 researchers and research assistants working in the research programme.

Our task
The task of the Institute is to promote a futures perspective in Swedish research and to manage and develop theories and methods in the field of futures studies. In addition to its research activities, the Institute publishes a journal, Framtider, and organises seminars and workshops.

Funding
The Institute is financed partly through a government grant and partly through external funding.

Research programme
The Institute’s current research programme, Sweden and the Future, is the sixth in the series. The first programme focused principally on future working life, energy supply and natural resources. The second dealt with municipalities and sparsely populated areas, future care needs and popular movements. The third centred on communications, knowledge, art and creativity. The fourth, Shaping the Future, was based on demographic studies of our ageing society. The fifth, Society and the Future, involved studying key public institutions in the light of demographic change at global, European, national and local level.
Read more about the Institute’s history