OXFORD SCENARIO PLANNING APPROACH/ STRATEGIC FORESIGHT
As my doctoral work deepens, I am increasingly aware of how the strands of my research and practice are converging. The Oxford Scenarios Planning Approach and the work we pursue at the Perception Lab are not parallel tracks but mutually reinforcing inquiries into how humans perceive, model, and shape complex futures.
At the Perception Lab, our focus is on the frontier between AI and quantum systems – not simply as technologies, but as epistemic frameworks. AI draws on billions of years of evolutionary optimisation embedded in the human brain; quantum computation models the fundamental structure of nature at its most elemental. One is an inheritance from biology, the other a direct engagement with physics. Their convergence is not accidental: both require a theory of perception, meaning‑making and human interpretation.
This is why I argue that it is not humans in the loop, but humans at the centre of the loop. If I may borrow a scientific metaphor: AI and quantum are like two complementary bases in a Hilbert space. Each provides a different projection of reality but the system only acquires meaning when a human observer performs the measurement. Without the observer, the state remains indeterminate.
The Oxford Scenarios Approach embodies this principle. It brings together collective intelligence, disciplinary diversity and frontier thinking to create a form of cognitive superposition -multiple plausible futures held open simultaneously until deliberation, judgement, and shared insight collapse them into actionable pathways. This is not forecasting; it is a disciplined method for expanding the space of the possible.
Within my FemTech start-up SOFIAA Health, our initiative Scenarios for Good applies this methodology to questions of gender, labour, and technological transformation. I recently hosted a workshop (2 CEOs, 2 Professors, 12 participants from 3 continents, 5 observers) and the team is currently developing the scenario set for the UK Women in Economics (WEN) Expert Panel in November, focusing on Women and the Labour Market in 2050: Health, Social and Technological Drivers. To meaningfully shape 2050, we must be willing to look beyond the immediacy of the present and articulate the futures we intend to build – then begin constructing them now.
If you are interested in the intersection of scenario planning, human‑centred AI and quantum‑inspired cognition, I would welcome further dialogue. These scenarios will be made available for free to organisations and policymakers.
With thanks to Saul Klein of Phoenix Court for the event.
