Newsletter #3 – July 2024

Welcome storytellers and story-listeners!

As we head towards the summer break, we’d like to take a moment to share some of the projects we’ve been working on. In these times of profound transformation, we are reminded that true change is always deeply personal, beginning with the resolve of individuals and spreading through the collective efforts of dedicated groups. Our journey is guided by the understanding that wisdom is cultivated through embracing diverse perspectives. Our aim transcends mere incremental improvements and strives for holistic, systemic change. We recognise that we are all shaped by our own experiences and the contexts in which we live. Thus, we continually challenge our assumptions and engage in meaningful dialogue, connect dots, and foster our capability to imagine, narrate, and prepare for more wiser alternatives.

The World Forum for Women in Science we organised reinforced, for example, our belief that there is hope, lots of hope, and potential embodied by changemakers around the world who are researching and working towards a more equal and sustainable future. At the same time, it made clear the critical need for networks and communities that support, connect, and empower these efforts. This is where we want to continue focusing in the coming months.

We are incredibly grateful to all our partners, friends, and supporters. Together, let’s continue to grow into a global community of dreamers and doers, united in our pursuit of a brighter tomorrow.

The World Forum For Women In Science 2024

In April, we held the World Forum for Women in Science, organised by Traces&Dreams as the partner of the Women in Science Without Borders Initiative in collaboration with the Fondazione Musica per Roma / Festival delle Scienze. This year’s conference, ‘Envisioning Tomorrow: Science for the SDGs and New Partnerships for Sustainable Futures’, emphasized the crucial role of science in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and focused on fostering knowledge exchange, dialogue and collaboration among researchers worldwide to envision the paths to a more equal and sustainable future.

The online conference fostered knowledge sharing and conversations on central and strategic scientific questions at a global level, while giving visibility to relevant and cutting-edge research.

Through (31) plenaries, panels and technical sessions held online over three days, the conference hosted more than 160 researchers from around the world, exploring topics ranging from zero hunger (food and agriculture); good health and well-being; quality education; gender equality; clean water and sanitation; affordable and clean energy; industry, innovation, and infrastructure; reduced inequalities; sustainable cities and communities; climate action; partnerships for the goals; and science diplomacy. A panel discussion on ‘Narratives That Matter’, featured diverse speakers exploring key themes at the intersection of academia and journalism. Considering strategies to bridge gender gaps in STEM and innovate in science communication from a range of perspectives emphasised the global impact of inclusive narratives – a central aspect of our vision at Traces&Dreams.

The Forum continued with an in-person networking event at Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome, where panels discussed the conference’s overarching themes, including challenges and opportunities for women in science, diplomacy and collaboration, science for sustainable futures and “envisioning tomorrow”. Speakers emphasised the importance of multidisciplinary partnerships in addressing global problems, such as food security, climate change, difficulties in policy making, and social injustice. Initiatives empowering women scientists and fostering collaborative environments were explored, drawing insights from gender and public policy research in different countries. The World Forum for Women in Science was a dynamic platform for international knowledge exchange and a symbol of a growing community working for a wiser and more equal tomorrow. For a detailed overview, you can explore the Reader, which compiles abstracts from speakers on a wide range of scientific topics, alongside essential presentations from guests and participants. The Reader will be available on the website and through the event’s official publication channels.

May saw the culmination of our Erasmus+ co-funded project for schools, Fair News.Emphasising the importance of critical thinking and media literacy for democratic society, we worked with high schools in Austria, Bulgaria, Italy and Romania to enhance students’ abilities in recognising bias, identifying trustworthy sources of information, and navigating and contributing to the contemporary media landscape.
The project’s results include a report on the creation and development of educational communities using methodologies of Theory of Knowledge and Media and Information Literacy, a framework for innovation pathways in the use of Theory of Knowledge among high school students, the Fair News Guide providing resources for the creation and dissemination of ‘fair news’, and a digital newspaper created by participating students from the four countries. Dissemination events were held in each country, including the final conference at the beautiful halls of Palazzo Pucci, Florence, and an online workshop led by Nerina Finetto, founder and director of Traces&Dreams, on media literacy and critical thinking. Find out more and download the project results at fairnews.eu.

As we enjoyed Sweden’s light June evenings, the Future Narratives partnership came together in Stockholm for a training and collaboration event dedicated to developing the Future Narratives Curriculum for youth workers, educators and practitioners. Building on the success of the methodology designed through our first project, we now aim to create a systematised curriculum transferable to diverse contexts across Europe. During our time together, we explored ways to broaden and deepen the Future Narratives approach, which combines storytelling and narrative analysis with Futures Literacy to empower young people in imagining and creating positive futures.

We considered how to foreground our open-minded, inclusive and constructive approach to the training of youth workers, and the key topics and methods to be incorporated in our training programme. Pilot training of youth workers will begin in September, before the new generation of Future Narratives practitioners lead their own workshops with young people. Partners, participants and young people will come together at the inaugural Future Narratives Festival in Ferrara, Italy, next spring – visit futurenarratives.eu for the latest news.

My Story – Bringing young people together through storytelling

Our collaborative project with Sollentuna Library, in Sweden, seeks to empower young individuals to explore their narratives and dive into various forms of storytelling. Beyond encouraging individual expression, our initiative aims to create stronger community ties among the youth of Sollentuna. At the heart of this initiative is the mission to provide a dynamic platform for young people to express themselves through different forms of storytelling.
We began in May with an introductory meeting, where we discussed together with the participants how we hope to shape the direction of these workshops. The young people also got to share their own expectations and preferences, which led to an engaging discussion about what they hoped to gain from the sessions and the types of activities they wanted to include. In our first workshop, participants experimented with three types of storytelling: telling a story, singing or rapping, or playing theatre. In the second workshop, we embarked on a journey of creativity as we aimed to foster imagination and self-expression. With brushes in hand and minds wide open, the youth were tasked with expressing their personal narratives through painting, focusing on the future. It was an exploration of not just colours and strokes, but also of hopes, dreams, and aspirations.
Our storytelling project with Sollentuna Library is a testament to our commitment to empowering young individuals, fostering community bonds, and unleashing creativity. By combining storytelling with unexpected challenges and creative workshops, our project stands as a beacon for youth empowerment, showcasing the transformative power of storytelling and shared experiences. As this journey unfolds, we anticipate it will leave a lasting impact on the youth of Sollentuna, creating a community of empowered storytellers and collaborators.

Future Framed – Our collective YouTube Channel

Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Our YouTube channel is for people interested in the past, passionate about the present and curious about the future. FutureFramedTV is where you can find inspiration through a multidisciplinary and multi-regional perspective. Our vision is to make the big questions and dreams of today’s researchers visible. We interview researchers from different disciplines and countries to get their perspectives on their work, their views on life, their “whys”, their motivation and their wishes.

Dr Connie Nshemereirwe in conversation with Dr Neil Guerrero González

🎙️ Conversations on education are a series of short conversations recorded in Kigali, Rwanda in the frame of the Annual General Meeting of the Global Young Academy 2023. They are part of our podcast A is not for Apple, about #education in Africa and beyond hosted by Dr. Connie Nshemereirwe. #futureframedTV This is episode number 9. In this episode, you will meet Dr. Neil Guerrero González . Since 2016, Neil has been an Associate Professor at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and currently, he holds the position of Vice-Chancellor of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia at Manizales Campus. He is interested in researching and teaching on the topics of signal processing for optical communications, extending connectivity to rural areas and engineering teaching – education. He received his electronic engineering degree and his master’s degree in industrial automation from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, and his PhD in photonics engineering from the Technical University of Denmark. Neil has experience in the industry of telecommunications (Huawei European Research Center in Munich – Germany and CPqD in Campinas – Brazil) for more than 5 years.
https://www.youtube.com/c/tracesdreams

We wish you a summer of peace and restoration, and look forward to sharing more stories soon!

Warm regards,
The Traces&Dreams Team

Newsletter #2 – December 2023

In this newsletter, we introduce our new Future Narratives project, announce a new online platform for social journalism, share a highlight of our summer discovering new stories as part of our Islanders project, and present upcoming events in social and cultural innovation

As we approach winter, a time which invites reflection and renewal, we would like to foreground the importance of narratives in shaping the directions we take in the future. Fostering narrative literacy – the ability to deconstruct the stories that surround us and imagine new ones – is at the heart of our work to promote positive social change for inclusive futures.

Future Narratives is an innovative approach which combines Futures Literacy with the power of storytelling to inspire individuals and communities to understand their pasts, reframe their presents, and imagine new futures.

“The future can’t be predicted, but it can be envisioned and brought lovingly into being.” Daniella Meadows, ‘Dancing with Systems’

Over the last two years, through our Erasmus+ co-funded project we have worked with youth organisations across Europe to design and implement new forms of non-formal education, addressed to all young people and particularly to those from backgrounds of less advantage. We were deeply affected by the potential for personal, communal and social transformation revealed by this approach, and by its capacity to engage, connect, and empower young people.

“Opening ourselves to the possibilities of different perspectives and narratives will challenge our previous way of thinking and accepting and will show us a whole new dimension to our understanding of the world.” Myrna Gönnemann, Future Narratives participant

Read more responses from participants in our Future Narratives: Informal Innovation Pathways, where you will find the story of our journey alongside many transferable activities and inspirations.

We are now excited to begin a new stage of Future Narratives with our second Erasmus+ co-funded project. Over the next two years, we will build on our experience and continue creating momentum with young people through connection and empowerment while defining the Future Narratives methodology for youth work. By working with a plurality of voices, we aim to encourage and support the diversity of thought and action that is possible in imaginative, safe spaces, and enable people to become active and creative agents in their own lives and in wider society.

Our work began in September, and will progress through curriculum development in dialogue with experts, experimentation with our methodology in training with youth workers, educators and young people, and engagement with diverse stakeholders. In April 2025, we will hold the inaugural Future Narratives Festival in Ferrara, Italy, seeking to establish our approach as a model to enable new visions of the future.

Follow our social media and visit futurenarratives.eu for the latest news, stories and resources.

Bullone EU

In October, we joined the InVisible Festival in Milan to hold our first webinar for Bullone EU, a pilot Erasmus+ project aiming to promote inclusion and the voices of vulnerable young people across Europe through social journalism. In partnership with Fondazione Near Onlus, we are developing the Bullone method, described by director Giancarlo Perego as based on “hope, trust, knowledge, in the frame of love”, into a European newspaper created by young people experiencing adverse health conditions. At the hybrid webinar presented to a live audience at the IBM Studios Milan, we shared our project alongside participants of Future Narratives from Germany, Spain and Sweden, who brought their perspectives on the importance of narrative and Futures Literacy in empowering young people to tell their stories. The webinar concluded with a consensus on guidelines for our future work: firstly, to listen to young Europeans who need support; secondly, to ask young Europeans what their aspirations are for the future, for themselves, and for the community; thirdly, the creation of content, articles, images, video and audio for young Europeans.

Bullone EU will be realised through a platform announced for the end of spring 2024: a web space containing stories, interviews, and reflections, inspired by the editorial direction of Il Bullone newspaper, which has now reached its 79th issue in Italy.

Islanders: Many Islands, One Community

September brought us the opportunity to learn and share new stories as part of our Erasmus+ co-funded project Islanders: Many Islands, One Community. Aimed at young people aged 15-25, this project strives to capture and share the unique aspects of small islands, using storytelling as a method to preserve cultural heritage while promoting sustainable development.

Our partnership came together on the Greek island of Kimolos, sharing our expertise, experiences and practices in this special place with a strong storytelling tradition.

We had the chance to get to know the Kimolian characteristics associated with sustainability and the island’s cultural heritage over time. Young people from the islands of Milos and Kimolos discussed their aspirations for the islands’ future regarding environmental issues and cultural heritage through storytelling. They indicated to all partners how important it is for them to express themselves and retell the stories of customs and traditions, including food and traditional crafts. The partners shared their common practices while comparing the young people’s ideas and responses to being active citizens in the small islands in the community of Europe.

We will soon share more about our discoveries there as we plan our work with young people from diverse island communities in 2024.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Our YouTube channel is for people interested in the past, passionate about the present and curious about the future. FutureFramedTV is where you can find inspiration through a multidisciplinary and multi-regional perspective. Our vision is to make the big questions and dreams of today’s researchers visible. We interview researchers from different disciplines and countries to get their perspectives on their work, their views on life, their “whys”, their motivation and their wishes.

Dr. Mariana Heredia in conversation with Dr. Alice Krozer.

🎙️ Episode 10, Season 2 of #futureframedtv – #inequalities, part of the Traces&Dreams Podcast!
Join host Dr. Alice Krozer in an enlightening conversation with Dr. Mariana Heredia, a renowned Sociologist from Buenos Aires. They delve into the themes of Dr. Heredia’s provocative new book, ‘¿El 99% contra el 1%? Por qué la obsesión por los ricos no sirve para combatir la desigualdad’ (The 99% against the 1%? Why the obsession with the rich does not serve the fight against inequality). This episode offers a deep dive into the complexities of social inequalities and power dynamics, exploring what it takes to forge a more egalitarian future beyond mere monetary ambitions. Tune in for an episode that challenges perceptions and opens up new dialogues on inclusivity and public policy.

Warm regards,
The Traces&Dreams Team

Newsletter #1 – June 2023

Greetings from Sweden! Here, we have recently celebrated Midsummer, a festive occasion that marks the summer solstice. Midsummer signifies a time for reflection and embracing the vibrant energy of this season. At this high point of the year, we are thrilled to share what we have been up to, including the launch of our brand new website! Visit tracesdreams.com to explore our resources, stay updated with our latest podcasts and projects, and connect with our community.

At Traces&Dreams we seek to join the dots and make sense of our human experience in order to contribute to a sustainable and equitable world. We think that the stories we hear and tell influence our future, and that by creating narratives based on deeper issues and comprehensive thinking, we can build a better world. Our transdisciplinary approach breaks down academic silos and fosters meaningful change by connecting diverse perspectives. We emphasize the importance of dialogue, learning from one another, and foregrounding different types of knowledge to imagine inclusive futures. We aim to activate knowledge and amplify the whispers of a new story for innovation and transformation through storytelling, narrative shaping, and humanistic communications.

A key part of our vision is Future Narratives, a methodology which combines an understanding of narratives at personal, communal and societal levels with Futures Literacy, the capacity to analyse the frames we use to predict the future. Earlier this year, we held the final workshop of our first Future Narratives Erasmus+ project, bringing youth workers and young people from across Europe to Sollentuna, Sweden. There, young people were encouraged to think critically and reflect on their future goals, dreams and fears, and the paths they could take to reach the futures they desire. Discover some highlights from the week here. All those involved with the project credited its power in enabling young people to become authors of their own stories, and we are excited to plan the future of Future Narratives in the second half of 2023.

Our ongoing and upcoming projects are connected through a belief in the power of narrative to activate change. We work with researchers, innovators and organizations dedicated to social and cultural impact. We provide theoretical and methodological support for educational organizations on Media and Information Literacy, using Theory of Knowledge to enhance high school students’ capacity to decode the media narratives that surround them. For youth organizations in island communities, we take an ecocritical approach to cultural heritage, promoting sustainability and intergenerational connection. New forms of classical music performance are championed through our work with MERITA, which connects the new generation of string quartets with sites of European cultural heritage. We are always eager to learn about new projects and initiatives working towards transformation and innovation – get in touch with us to share your dreams and consider how we might work together.

As part of our commitment to knowledge dissemination, we invite you to explore FutureFramed.TV, our transformative digital library for curious minds, holistic thinkers, and futures makers. It provides a range of video and audio content that sparks imagination and challenges conventional thinking. FutureFramed.TV also serves as our collective podcast, featuring discussions with researchers, innovators, and change-makers who transcend disciplinary boundaries. For example, in the link below listen to Argenitian author and sociologist Dr. Mariana Heredia in conversation with Dr. Alice Krozer as they question the concept of the 99% vs the 1%. What if this antagonism is not helpful in leading us to a more egalitarian and just society? Such insightful discussions deepen our understanding of present trends and help us collectively reimagine equal and sustainable futures.

Dr. Mariana Heredia in conversation with Dr. Alice Krozer.

We hope this newsletter inspires you to engage with the power of narratives and join us in shaping a better future, and as summer unfolds, extend our warmest greetings for a joy-filled season. May it be a time of relaxation, exploration, and renewed inspiration. Thank you for joining us on this exciting journey of exploring narratives, connecting knowledge, and driving change. Stay tuned for future editions as we work together for a wiser and more sustainable future.

Wishing you a delightful summer ahead!

Warm regards,
The Traces&Dreams Team