Planethon and Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University
Science, Futures and Partnerships Lead and Research Liaison Officer
Stockholm, Sweden and Auckland, New Zealand
Swedish
Andrew Merrie is a sustainability scientist with a PhD from the Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University where he continues to work as the Research Liaison Officer. During the final year of his PhD, Andrew launched the Radical Ocean Futures project. This is centered around four scientifically grounded multimedia narratives of potential alternate futures for the global ocean. The scenarios were built using the method of Science Fiction Prototyping, bringing together science and storytelling. The project includes commissioned artworks by the renowned Swedish conceptual artist Simon Stålenhag. This art-science initiative continues to
create impact and has inspired many to experiment with science fiction prototyping and engage more deeply in the future of the ocean.
The focus of Radical Ocean Futures and Andrew’s work more generally is on how we can think more creatively & ; radically about the linked social & environmental challenges facing our planet, the potential solutions to those challenges and the role technology plays in shaping alternate futures. In his other role as Science and futures lead at Planethon, Andrew focuses on applying insights from science to support sustainable transformation. Practically, this involves combining science, art, imagination, storytelling and strategy to build futures literacy and transformative capacity within companies & organisations.
Offer
- My theory of change is that science without storytelling will never change the world and telling stories without a solid scientific foundation may change the world but not in a way that any of us want. - My talent is bringing the power of science and mixing it together with creativity, imagination and storytelling to create impactful experiences that can help us open up and shape our collective futures for the better - The community can learn how Science Fiction prototyping, blending art and culture with science in creative ways can contribute to systems level innovation and transformation. They can learn that stories aren't just talk but fuel for accelerating the pace of action and guiding us along pathways that are better for people and planet - I am a systems thinker and think of the global ocean and sustainability science more generally as part of a large interconnected system. to make sense of that system, let alone shape it, we need imagination individually, in our organisations and collectively. - I am theatrical and think that the scale of the challenge we face needs joy, laughter, absurdity and fun.
NEED
I want to bring my vision of science based storytelling, applied imagination and informed hope to a much larger audience and help democratise the future by engaging as many people as possible in finding their agency to be inspired to be part of creating better futures for people and planet. My challenge then is scaling the radical ocean futures project and bringing it to film or TV, we need new stories about our world and how it is changing and what that means for us, other species and our planet.
Call-to-Action
My call to action would be, lets create better stories together about the future of the ocean that can accelerate the transformation towards a better future faster. Lets dare to imagine the impossible, discard the shackles of plausibility and then do something amazing together
