KHDA Accredited · Grades 6 to 10 · Dubai
future.
Future Signals is a foresight programme for curious students. Six live modules, six real futures thinking methods, and a way of seeing change before it arrives.
Future Signals connects students across the three schools.
KHDA Accredited. Open to students from
- GEMS Modern Academy
- GEMS World Academy
- Dubai American Academy
01 / Why Future Signals
The future isn’t something we predict.
It’s something we explore.
Foresight is the skill of thinking carefully about the future: spotting early signals of change, understanding what drives them, and imagining several possible futures instead of predicting just one.
Signals
Small early clues that something is changing.
Drivers
The forces pushing that change forward.
Possibilities
Many plausible futures, not one prediction.
02 / Six topics. Six methods.
Every topic comes with a real
futures thinking method.
This is what makes Future Signals different. Each module pairs a frontier topic with a methodology that real futurists use, so students learn not just what might happen, but how to think about it.
- Futures Wheel
- Menagerie of Postnormal Potentiality
- Systems Archetypes
- Causal Layered Analysis
- Futures Triangle
- Visioning
- 01Futures Wheel
- 02Menagerie of Postnormal Potentiality
- 03Systems Archetypes
- 04Causal Layered Analysis
- 05Futures Triangle
- 06Visioning
The methods, up close
Six tools you keep, long after
the programme.
A topic goes out of date. A method does not. Pick one to see how it works, and what you will use it on. Draft, to be confirmed by Dr. John.
Module 01 · AI and Science: AlphaFold
Futures Wheel
Map the first, second and third-order consequences of a change.
- Put one change at the centre.
- Ring out what follows directly from it.
- Then ring out what follows from those.
You’ll try it on AlphaFold solving protein structures — and what that sets off three rings out.
The change selected
AlphaFold predicts protein structures in minutes
4 direct consequences mapped. Ask of every node: if this happens, what happens next?
Method source: Jerome C. Glenn, 1971
03 / The six modules
Six weeks. Six frontiers.
One new way to look.
Live online · 90 minutes each · Provisional dates
How AI is changing scientific discovery, using AlphaFold’s protein structure predictions as the case.
What you’ll do
- Put AlphaFold’s breakthrough at the centre of a Futures Wheel.
- Map what follows directly from it, then what follows from those.
- Reach the third order, where the consequences stop being about biology.
Biology, engineering and computing are converging, including living, programmable organisms called xenobots.
What you’ll do
- Learn the creatures: black swans, black elephants, black jellyfish.
- Decide which one xenobots actually are, and argue it.
- Name a surprise in your own world and give it the right creature.
Economies as evolving, interconnected systems rather than predictable machines.
What you’ll do
- Draw a feedback loop instead of a straight line of cause and effect.
- Spot limits to growth, and fixes that backfire.
- Find where the delay sits, which is usually where the surprise comes from.
How algorithms and platforms shape who we are and how we see the world.
What you’ll do
- Take a headline about a feed and strip it down through four layers.
- Separate the system from the worldview that makes it look normal.
- Reach the myth underneath, and say it out loud.
How our minds picture, fear and plan for the future.
What you’ll do
- Map the pull of the future, the push of the present, the weight of history.
- Work out which of the three is actually holding a decision still.
- Apply it to a choice you are facing yourself.
A Wednesday, not a Saturday.
Learning from nature’s designs to build regenerative futures.
What you’ll do
- Describe a future you actually want, in concrete detail.
- Stand in that future and look back at how it happened.
- Backcast to the three things that had to happen first.
- +CapstoneAll six methods together18–21 Nov
Students bring the six methods together in a final project and share insights in person around KHDA Futures Week.
In person, around KHDA Futures Week. Details to be confirmed.
04 / Four steps in every module
From a signal to your own
conclusion.
Every module moves through the same four steps, so you always know what comes next, and your station keeps everything in one place.
Discover
Meet the frontier topic and the change it sets off.
Explore
Learn the futures thinking method behind it.
Apply
Use the method on the topic, in your own words.
Reflect
Record what changed in how you think.
05 / Your own space to learn
Everything for the programme,
in one station.
Every student gets a personal login, the materials for every module, and a place to submit their work. Attendance and feedback appear there too, so you always know where you stand.
06 / Dates at a glance
Six Saturdays, one Wednesday,
and a week in November.
The programme runs weekly from mid-October, finishing with the in-person capstone around KHDA Futures Week.
Dates are provisional and will be confirmed by email before the programme starts. Sessions run on Saturday mornings or evenings, time to be confirmed, except Module 5 on a Wednesday. Times shown in Dubai time (UTC+4).
Registration closes
First cohort
Briefing webinar
With Dr. John and Vrishank. Time to be confirmed.
To be confirmedModule 1 · AI and Science
Futures Wheel
To be confirmedModule 2 · Bioconvergence
Menagerie of Postnormal Potentiality
To be confirmedModule 3 · Complexity
Systems Archetypes
To be confirmedModule 4 · Digital Society
Causal Layered Analysis
To be confirmedModule 5 · Future Minds
A Wednesday, not a Saturday.
To be confirmedModule 6 · Biomimicry
Visioning
To be confirmed- 18–21 Nov
Capstone, in person
Around KHDA Futures Week. Details to be confirmed.
To be confirmed
07 / What you get
Leave with new skills, and proof
of how your thinking changed.
Futures thinking skills
Six methods you can use in any subject, and long after the programme ends.
Proof of how your thinking changed
An evaluation before the programme and again at the end, curated by Dr. John, showing how your ideas about the future shift.
A certificate of completion
A KHDA and GEMS certificate of completion.
08 / The people
Taught by people who do this
for a living.
Future Signals is run by a student founder alongside a futurist who has spent a career advising governments. Peer energy, expert depth.
Vrishank Sai Anand
Founder, Future Signals · Youth Futurist and AI AmbassadorStudent at GEMS Modern Academy, Dubai. Founder and programme lead for Future Signals.
Full bio to be suppliedDr. John A. Sweeney
Future Foresight Function, KHDAFormer UNESCO Chair for Futures Studies in Anticipatory Governance. Co-hosts the programme and curates the before-and-after evaluation.
Full bio to be suppliedArnav Thomas
Head of Communications, Future SignalsCoordinates the programme’s outreach, updates and student correspondence.
Ishaan Balasubramanian
Head of Operations, Future SignalsKeeps sessions, materials and the student portal running week to week.
09 / Choose your school
Register in three steps.
Registration is handled by your school’s own form. You’ll need your GEMS school account to sign in.
Choose your school
Each school has its own form. Pick yours below.
Sign in and fill it in
Sign in with your GEMS school account. The form asks for a parent or guardian email and their consent, so talk to them first.
Watch for your confirmation
Look out for your confirmation email, and the invitation to the Friday briefing webinar.
Registration for the first cohort has closed.
Email Vrishank Sai Anand to be told about the next cohort.
Email about the next cohort10 / Questions
Everything else you might ask.
Who can join?
Students in Grades 6 to 10 at GEMS Modern Academy, GEMS World Academy and Dubai American Academy.
What is foresight?
Foresight is the skill of thinking carefully about the future: spotting early signals of change, understanding what drives them, and imagining several possible futures instead of predicting just one.
Do I need to know anything beforehand?
No. Curiosity is enough.
When and how are sessions held?
Six live online modules of about 90 minutes each. Dates are provisional and will be confirmed by email before the programme starts. Sessions run on Saturday mornings or evenings, time to be confirmed, except Module 5 on a Wednesday. Join links are shared only with confirmed students.
What is the capstone?
An in-person finale around KHDA Futures Week, 18 to 21 November 2026. Details to be confirmed.
Do I get a certificate?
Students receive a KHDA and GEMS certificate of completion.
How many places are there?
60 to 80 across the three schools, first come, first served and shared fairly between them.
Are the dates final?
They are provisional. The programme team confirms the final dates, including session times, by email before the programme starts.
When does registration close?
Registration for the first cohort closes Thursday 15 October 2026.
Who do I contact?
Vrishank Sai Anand, vrishank.a_mhs@gemsed.com.
KHDA Accredited
Ready to read the signals?
Six modules. Six methods. One cohort, starting Sat 17 Oct 2026.