“Will the Future Never Be the Same? Letters from a Post-Corona Future” - Post Corona Futures Project

The corona virus outbreak has affected health systems, daily routines, social relationships, livelihoods, the global economic system in ways we never imagined possible. How is it possible to imagine in these circumstances a desirable future after the corona outbreak, rather than the most likely or dreadful future? The study investigates how a global, disruptive event can impact our perception of what is possible and what is desirable, and the way we make sense of the world (community, society, humanity, the planet) and ourselves. The project invited participants to write a letter from a future after the corona crisis addressed from a future time and place of their choice to the present. The questionnaire and a short survey were available in 9 languages (Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Spanish) to enable as many people as possible to contribute their stories of imagined futures.

Funding agency: University of Twente

Consortium / partners:  King’s College London, Leibniz University Hannover, The Center for Religious Studies – Bruno Kessler Foundation, University Vita-Salute San Raffaele, the University of Crete, the University of Humanistic Studies, the University of Tartu, the University of West England Bristol

PI: Anneke Sools & Yasar Saghai (UT)

Researchers: Lucia Galvagni (FBK), Monica Consolandi (UniHSR, FBK)

Start date: April 2020

End date: ongoing (in conclusion)

Project web site:  https://www.utwente.nl/en/bms/ehealth/research/story-lab/post-corona%20Futures/

Main project outputs (publications, conferences etc.): Publications, conferences; videos and graphic art.