Organisation | Plurality University Network

Trajectory and history

In 2018, a small group of actors (researchers, artists, authors, etc.) formulate the hypothesis that we will only regain the capacity to act in a deliberate way on the futures we wish to see, by working in a deliberate and constructed way on imaginaries. In order to transform and break away from inherited patriarchal and capitalist figures and their oppressive ideologies, as well as to regain a common direction towards other possible paths, we must reconsider our ways of “doing together”. For some of us, we also need to discover and learn how to develop our “capacities to imagine” other possibilities.

That same year, in order to confirm these intuitions and discover new ones, we invited thinkers, designers, artists, architects, etc. that we considered were reflecting on similar issues, to participate in three days of dialogue, exploration, and conferences, with the objective of inventing the space U+ should become and the different courses of action we were to initiate.

The principles that came out of this event became the foundation of this initiative: Diversity; the federation of different actors from different fields ; bringing together art, science and civil society; world building different possibilities ; the development of new collective methods; and the necessity of integrating ecological and social issues to questions related to transformations and futures.

Today, U+ has over 700 members worldwide. U+’s activities and projects involve all individuals who wish to participate. By mobilizing collective intelligence, they explore both themes and practices with the aim of making ecological, social and economic transformations of today’s world both conceivable and possible.

Supervisory board

As an open organisation, the Plurality University Network (U+) has a supervisory board. The board’s function is to support, make suggestions and review how U+ operate through its activities. Once every month, board members meet online to review projects, share ideas and decide on next actions. The Supervisory Board is composed of 6-9 individuals of diverse geographic origins, genders, abilities, and practices. On half of the board is elected yearly by members during our General Assembly, through online voting.

2024 supervisory board

Ketty Steward (Presiding member)

Born in 1976 in Martinique, Ketty Steward is a writer, with more than 40 science-fiction short stories published as well as poetry and stories outside the Sci-Fi genre. Ketty Steward also gives conferences and courses, and has coordinated special issues of science-fiction magazines.

Adwaita Das

Adwaita Das is the author of 27 Stitches, Colours of Shadow, Songs of Sanity & Quantum Tango. Their art features in various publications & series. They integrate their work from theatre, news, advertising & filmmaking as creative facilitator for inclusive mental healthcare & innovative social justice.

Chloé Luchs Tassé

Chloé Luchs is a creative thinker with a multidisciplinary background in fine arts, digital culture and international organizations. She draws up strategies, develops new projects and collective methods around committed themes of socio-ecological transition and the future. To open up spaces for dialogue and debate for a sustainable world, she curates exhibitions, festivals and artistic events. In 2018, she co-founded the Plurality University Network, which she will codirect until 2023. Back in Montreal, she joined Chemin de transition at the University of Montreal for a short mandate as a consultant on a project to identify the use of the future and foresight in Quebec, towards building a community of practice.

Mimi Mondal

Mimi Mondal (she/they) is a writer and editor originally from Kolkata, India. Her speculative fiction has been nominated twice for the Nebula Award as well as for the Ennie and Diana Jones Awards, with the novelette “His Footsteps, Through Darkness and Light” and the ancient-Bengal-inspired setting Shankhabhumi in the Dungeons & Dragons anthology Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel. As the co-editor of the nonfiction anthology Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia E. Butler Mimi received the Locus Award in 2018 and nominations for the Hugo, British Fantasy and Ditmar Awards. She also serves as the fiction editor of Stellar Beacon magazine and a juror for the Crawford Award and Grist’s Imagine 2200 short fiction contest.

Petra Ardai

Petra Ardai is a theater maker, teacher, and writer. She is artistic leader of the artists’ collective SPACE, rooted in Amsterdam and Budapest. “I am convinced that co-creative art experiences can cultivate cultural shifts, make fundamental changes and collaborations possible even under circumstances when nothing else seems to work anymore.”

Lara Houston

Lara Houston is a Research Fellow at the University of Sussex. She investigates how citizen-led and creative practices can inform sustainable transitions (as part of the CreaTures project).

Brigitte van der Sande

Brigitte van der Sande is founding/artistic director of Other Futures, a multidisciplinary platform for makers and thinkers of speculative fiction based in Amsterdam. With a festival, exhibition, events and an online feed, Other Futures introduce the critical potential of this genre to a diverse community.

Nicolas Gluzman

When he was little kid, Nicolas wanted to become a bookseller along the Seine in Paris and his dream was to speak all the languages of the world. About thirty years later, he lives in a small village between Geneva and Lyon (which has no second-hand booksellers), he speaks 3 languages, which is not bad and is the father of two young children. Nicolas works in human resources management and carries out independent activities in design fiction and foresight. He is the founder of “futurs proches” which could be translated by “Near future”, a collective of facilitators who organize creative workshops to co-imagine and co-write short stories about a desirable and alternative futures. He has been a member of the U+’s board the last 2 years and is also a member of the teaching team of the foresight module ” sustainable futures” at the School of Management of Lyon.

Nicolas is currently exploring a new project: imagine the future jobs in a anthropocene era, based on different well established scenario (IPCC …)

Partners

By taking part in U+’s projects, the partner organizations of the Plurality University Network develop their capacities for future anticipations and their ability to link meaning and daily action, concrete innovation and global issues. They benefit from their inclusion in the global U+ network. For their employees, this participation is also a path of learning and transformation.

If you are interested in the U+ approach, methods and projects, contact us! Together we will look for ways to imagine a partnership that contributes to the U+ mission while meeting your expectations.

Code of conduct

The Plurality University Network has established a Code of Conduct which applies to the organisation as well as its members. The code’s aim is to support a community where all people feel welcome to participate, introduce new ideas and inspire others, discuss and improve their own and others’ ideas, regardless of background, race or ethnicity, geographic location, gender, sexual orientation, language, age, ability, social status, religion, etc.

Openness, creativity, collaboration, and participation are core values of the Plurality University. To produce plurality, diversity – of people, practices, and ideas – is needed. These guidelines exist to enable diverse individuals and groups to interact and collaborate to mutual advantage. To this end, they outline both expected and prohibited behavior.

The Code of Conduct can be viewed by accessing the link below.

Access the code of conduct