Guidance

Futures thinking and foresight: a brief guide

Tips, advice and guidance to help policymakers embed long-term thinking and external insight into policy making.

• From: Government Office for Science
• Published: 25 February 2021
• Last updated: 16 October 2025
  Show all updates

  1. 16 October 2025

     Links added to new reports, publications and to updated guidance and standards. Contact email address and quotes updated.

  2. 28 October 2022

     Links added to new reports, publications and YouTube content, and to updated guidance and standards. Contact email address updated.

  3. 25 February 2021

     First published.

Documents

A Brief Guide to Futures Thinking and Foresight - 2025

PDF, 1.4 MB, 16 pages

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A brief guide to Futures thinking and foresight

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Details

This introductory guide provides tips, guidance, and advice to help policy makers and futures leads across government embed long-term thinking and external insight into policy and strategy.

We have created this guide to introduce you to what futures thinking is, the benefits, where to start, capability development, foresight resources and networks for horizon scanning and futures work across government.