The Futurenauts

Reluctant futurists
The Futurenauts

The Futurenauts are Ed Gillespie and Mark Stevenson – drawn together by their shared frustrations with, but love for, the potential of a common future which is sustainable, equitable, humane and just.

Ed and Mark have been working together to stretch the imagination of the possible for over seven years. As fellow ‘reluctant futurists’ they tackle the interconnected challenges of tomorrow with a heady mix of humour, humility and hyper-self-reflectivity, helping clients identify and wrangle with the toughest and most important of questions beyond their comfort zones and occasionally wilful blindness.

They’ve written books; ‘An optimists tour of the future’ and ‘We do things differently’ (Mark), ‘Only Planet – a flight-free adventure around the world’ (Ed), Mark writes plays (‘Octopus Soup’) and is half of prog rock band ‘Quantum Pig’, while Ed ‘throws themes at a rhyming dictionary’ for his poetry (‘Songs of Love in Lockdown’).

They have given five TEDx talks between them and presented hundreds of times all over the world for major corporations, international institutions and national governments, and alongside comedian Jon Richardson co-present the podcast ‘Jon Richardson and the Futurenauts – Book of Revelations’.

In their spare time Mark advises the Ministry of Defence on peace and climate security, is a global ambassador for activist law-firm Client Earth and a ‘Futurist without Borders’ at Médecins-sans-Frontieres, and Ed is a Director of Greenpeace UK, a facilitator with the Forward Institute on responsible leadership and an investor or mentor to a dozen or more ethical entrepreneurial start-up businesses. Together their passion is to navigate the future, by sailing close to the winds of change.

Mark and Ed can be booked individually. View Mark’s profile and Ed’s profile.

The Futurenauts