Glasgow Changing Futures

Professor Petra Meier and Associate Lead Professor Jude Robinson are leading Glasgow Changing Futures' contribution to this year's EHFG programme, aimed at engaging EHFG participants in healthy and equitable futures thinking.

The first of these sessions will be part of the Young Gastein Forum programme, aimed at future leaders in health. In the workshop, participants will explore a set of future scenarios and consider what policy choices could help shape healthier and more equitable outcomes.

Young Gasteiners will then support Crowd Harvest, an ongoing interactive installation fuelled by the collective expertise of attendees throughout the conference. Through the Crowd Harvest, attendees will be invited to respond to five alternative futures for Europe in 2070, sharing their views on what health leaders should start, stop and do differently today.

A senior leaders’ lunchtime roundtable on ‘Governing for Future Generations’ will follow. Designed as a working conversation, the roundtable will bring together ministers, senior policymakers, leaders from international organisations, academia and civil society to explore the practical implications of leadership, governance and long-term stewardship.

Together, the sessions will bring senior leaders, future leaders and conference participants into a shared conversation about what it takes to govern for the health and wellbeing of current and future generations.

The insights generated through the three activities will inform a post-forum report 'Governing for Future Generations: A Gastein Call to Action', a joint output from EHFG and Glasgow Changing Futures.

The Five European Futures for 2070 scenarios used in the process are not predictions. They are tools for exploring choices and consequences, helping participants to imagine different versions of Europe in 2070, identify what matters for healthy and equitable futures, and work back to choices that need to be made now.

The scenarios were developed from 68 propositions generated during 18 Healthy and Equitable Futures Catalyst workshops run by Glasgow Changing Futures and the University of Glasgow's ArtsLab Catalyst team. These workshops included academics, policymakers, healthcare providers, NGOs and community leaders who shared their vision and ideas for action towards a more desirable future.

The five scenarios are set against a backdrop of major forces shaping Europe's future, including a crisis of trust, rapid technological advances, changing kinship networks and care, the climate crisis, population ageing, threats to multilateralism, migration, urbanisation and persistent societal inequalities.

The European Health Forum Gastein is Europe's leading annual health policy conference and platform. The theme of this year’s forum is “High time for action!”

 

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First published: 28 September 2026