UNDP Arab States Futures Series: SIMULATIONS - Games & Epic Wins for a Better World

In this special edition of our discussion series on futures thinking, we spoke to Jane McGonigal, PhD, a world-renowned designer of alternate reality games. Jane specializes in games that challenge players to tackle real-world problems, such as climate change, poverty and mental health through planetary-scale collaboration. Jane is also a future forecaster. She is the Director of Games Research & Development at the Institute for the Future, a non-profit research group in Palo Alto, California. Her research focuses on how games are transforming the way we lead our real lives, and how they can be used to increase our resilience and well-being. For a full bio, see: . Discussant: Sarah Poole, Regional Director a.i., UNDP Regional Bureau for the Arab States Moderator: Dr John A. Sweeney This session was part of a webinar series organised in the framework of the UNDP Youth Futures Fellowship and involving acclaimed futures thinkers from around the world. In October, UNDP launched a participatory futures exercise through which over 400 young people across the Arab States submitted creative works expressing their imaginings of the futures of climate action and civic engagement. Young people from 15 Arab countries have been selected to partake in a 7-week online fellowship programme on futures thinking. You can view their creative pieces in this online gallery: .