Riel is currently driving a cutting-edge global effort to cultivate futures literacy and the discipline of anticipation in diverse communities, from private and public sector institutions to civil society associations and activist organizations. He delivers the course Creative Expectations of the Future (Kreative forventninger til fremtiden E-MTN103).
Riel Miller – previously Head of Futures Literacy at UNESCO (2012-2022) – has been recruited as a Senior Fellow at seven universities around the world to collaborate on pioneering an anticipatory systems and processes framework for the field of Futures Studies. Here at UiS, Riel has collaborated closely with colleagues to create a unique and innovative course: Creative Expectations of the Future (Kreative forventninger til fremtiden), for the Master's in Transformation and Innovation (Master i transformasjon og nyskaping).
Riel has been co-creating experiments aimed at advancing the theory and practice of ‘using-the-future’ for over forty years. He has designed and implemented hundreds of projects around the world, deploying innovative ways of using the future in order to change what people see and do. In all his projects Riel walks-the-talk of co-creation, harnessing the collective intelligence of everyone, from CEOs and Prime Ministers to shop-floor workers and school children.
Riel Miller started his career at the OECD in Paris in 1982 in the Economics Department. Completed his PhD in Economics at the New School for Social Research in 1987. From 1985 to 1993 he worked for the Ontario Government, in the legislature and as a senior manager in the Ontario public service (Ministries of Finance; Universities; and Industry). In 1995 he returned to the OECD to work in the International Futures Programme and with the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation. In 2005 he founded an independent consultancy – xperidox (which means knowledge through experience) to advise public and private sector clients from around the world on how to use the future more effectively.
Riel is an experienced and innovative educator, a pioneer of the field of Futures Literacy and the Discipline of Anticipation. He is widely published in academic journals and other media on a range of topics, from the future of education and the Internet to the transformation of leadership and productivity. He is an accomplished keynote speaker and facilitator. His unflagging ambition is to find ways to put the richness of complex emergence at the service of humanity's capacity to be free.