Our next day in Paro began with sunshine, announcing the bright future of our research collaboration. This day was dedicated to a futures workshop designed by Arne Bygdås and employed futures thinking methods to explore shared interests and to deepen our mutual understanding.
But prior to that, Arne introduced the OsloMet Policy Lab, an initiative dedicated to strengthening the capacity to anticipate and shape long-term societal developments for a more just and sustainable world. He showed how the lab’s intention to move beyond purely utilitarian foresight and to help researchers break out of disciplinary silos and imagine positive, alternative futures amidst a global reality of ‘polycrisis’ aligns with the visions that underpin both the GNH and the work of legal researchers at JSW, as they are deeply futures-oriented. By integrating futures studies with a holistic focus on human security, well-being, and dignity, the Policy lab links academic insights to real-world policy innovation – in this sense, there is a deeply shared interest with the work at JSW.
Through international research collaborations, both institutions seek to enrich our collective visions of the future in active dialogue with their international partners. Establishing this shared baseline, we moved on to engage in the dialogic futures workshop.
With eight participants from JSW and the five of us, the rooms filled with lively and constructive debate and we developed an outline for a joint research project. We concluded the day by thanking each other for a rewarding experience and with a shared commitment to continue developing our plans for collaboration.
After concluding our intensive workshop and parting with our newly found colleagues and friends, we journeyed to the capital of Thimphu, where we were to stay for the next three nights.
