A research center at JOPRO The Futures Center
42.36° N / 71.06° W
BOSTON · EST 2026
NODE 001
PHILOSOPHY · HISTORY · METASCIENCE · STRATEGY

A research center for the leverage points futures work tends to miss.

We build maps, methods, and literacies for navigating emerging landscapes. Our work focuses on path dependencies in knowledge generation, the on-ramps conventional futures conversations overlook, and the rigor required to act and build well in unprecedented times.

What we're launching Get involved

A living lab for use-inspired futures research.

Three commitments that shape everything we publish, fund, and host. Each holds the others accountable.

/01

Rigor

Scoping reviews, registered reports, transparent methods, and reproducible artifacts. Futures work earns its weight by showing the work, not by sounding the part.

/02

Deployment

Translating research into practical tools, frameworks, and decisions. We measure success by what changes downstream, not by what we publish.

/03

Community

Open colloquia, micro-cohorts, and public reviews. The honest field we want to belong to is one we have to help build.

What we're working on now.

Programs, calls, and gatherings in motion.

Four initiatives building the Center's first full operating year. Express interest now to be on the early lists.

In Development · Q3 2026

Foundational Papers & Theory of Change

Defining alternatives, developing "Destination-Based Research," extending the FrontierMap project, and refining our descriptive (map), prescriptive (trace), evaluative (test) framework.

Read working papers →
Brief Drops Soon

Essay Contest

Centering missing voices and surfacing overlooked on-ramps to desirable futures. Full brief and timeline drop next week.

Join the interest list →
Interest List Open

2026 Micro-Residency & Cohort

A tiny, high-accountability fellowship (2–3 people) with weekly lab, public colloquium, and quarterly field day. Built for researchers actually trying to do the unusual work.

Apply for cohort →
CFP Forthcoming

2026 Conference

A builder-meets-policy gathering. Think AugLab × Princeton Envision × WeRobot with sharper analysis and a more honest conversation.

Be the first to know →
F
This pivotal moment requires more than pontificating what comes next, or congratulating an argument that centers a particular silverbullet solution.

The question is how do we understand the different leverage points within the system that operators, researchers, and builders will need to be aware of;
the trajectories that shaped their current emergent structures, relative to other paths of development.

These are the language, models, artifacts -- the new literacy -- we need to develop.
Jes Parent · Director, Futures Center · 2026

How to enter the work.

We're seeking partners, cohort fellows, collaborators, and advisors to shape the residency, curriculum, and field-building work ahead.

Core team building the Center.

JP
Jesse Parent
Director
JJ
Jennifer Jiang
Program Lead
AL
Avery Lim
Senior Contributor
*
To Be Announced!
Advisor
*
To Be Announced!
Senior Advisor