About

What role does hope play for moving forward in uncertain times?

In this third conversation in our series connecting researchers and practitioners, Kristina Lindström, Associate Professor of Design at Malmö University, meets Ludvig Liljekvist, future practitioner at Ingka Group (IKEA). Together, they will explore what hope is and how it can become a driving force for positive change.

Kristina Lindström’s research focuses on hope as something that is actively produced and sustained through design, collective practices and everyday engagements with uncertain futures. Rather than treating hope as a feeling or an abstract ideal, her work examines how it can be cultivated, shared and put to work in processes of social and environmental transformation.

At the same time, organisations and institutions are increasingly tasked with navigating long-term uncertainty. How can hope be translated into decisions, strategies and actions that matter today? And how can foresight practices support not only planning for the future, but sustaining the capacity to act within it?

Drawing on research and organisational practice, the conversation will explore how hope and foresight intersect in shaping collective agency. Rather than treating the future as something to predict or await, it asks how we might engage with it through practices that keep action possible.

The event unfolds as a 45-minute dialogue between the speakers, followed by a 15-minute audience Q&A.

Speakers

Kristina Lindström is Associate Professor of Design and Senior Lecturer at Malmö University’s School of Arts and Communication. Her research sits at the intersection of participatory design, speculative design and feminist technoscience. She is co-director of the Malmö Research Centre for Imagining and Co-Creating Futures.

Ludvig Liljekvist leads Xplore Studios at Ingka Group, an IKEA retailer and spent the last decade working in strategic insight and foresight around the world. His work brought together foresight, innovation, strategy, design and storytelling to help translate long-term visions into action. He has led Action Speaks, an initiative that uses hopeful visions and practical, science-based solutions to encourage collective climate action.

Context

This event is part of an ongoing initiative to strengthen the connection between Malmö’s academic research and its professional landscape–making knowledge more visible, relevant, and shared. The work is funded by Region Skåne.