This research examines the National Hockey League's (NHL) organizational ability and viability to foster meaningful cultural change, particularly through implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles. It delves deep into hockey’s ethos, evaluating how the NHL can integrate these critical values amidst evolving societal expectations. This exploration delves into the multifaceted role of sports as both a reflection of societal dilemmas and a catalyst for profound transformation.

Emerging from 23 insightful interviews, this study identifies significant societal events — the presidency of Barack Obama, the polarizing elections of 2016 and 2019, the global upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the renewed focus on racial injustice following George Floyd's death — as key drivers reshaping DEI strategies in major sports leagues. These events challenged the sports domain to confront its exclusionary legacy, navigate socio-political shifts, and commit to a genuinely inclusive and equitable future.

This research underscores an urgent need for transformative actions within hockey, actions that not only challenge but disrupt the status quo. Our exploration reveals that the NHL's success in embedding DEI and transforming its culture hinges on a comprehensive strategy that addresses both internal and external factors at various systemic levels. It highlights the imperative for a coordinated, evolving approach to ensure DEI becomes a permanent facet of the league's identity and operational ethos.

The study further illustrates how the NHL’s strategic initiatives and operational actions are creating a new paradigm in hockey, transforming it into a model of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Leadership within the league is not merely issuing DEI directives but is actively weaving these principles into the sport’s very fabric, making inclusivity a tangible experience. This shift transcends simple compliance, signalling a profound cultural metamorphosis towards a sport that genuinely reflects its diverse fan base.

MRP Topic: Skating Towards Equity: A New Era of Diversity Equity and Inclusion in The National Hockey League

This major research project explores how teachers and school leaders at Branksome Hall, an all-girls International Baccalaureate (IB) school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada perceive the affordances (potential uses) of a new Innovative Learning Environment (ILE) under construction. This study adopted a social constructivist approach. First, primary research involving virtual reality (VR) walkthroughs identified the spatial features participants perceived as supporting their current and future teaching practices. Following this research, a teacher workshop built upon these features, exploring how well they aligned with the stated aims of the building. Abductive thematic coding was applied to the data according to the themes presented in Frelin and Grannäs’ (2022) TEALE model—two additional themes were also uncovered that fall outside of this framework. The findings aim to guide the transition to utilizing the iCAST effectively through the creation of spatial profiles for each space under study. Each profile provides a dynamic resource for teachers that can be used to empower an exploration of the impact of space on pedagogy and to inspire the development of innovative practices. Seven insights were developed based on the analysis of primary data and secondary research. These insights were used to guide the development of five key practice implications for Branksome Hall’s next steps, which involve cross-team collaboration, revisiting the building’s aims, engaging in futures workshops, and intentionally developing teachers’ spatial literacy and professional learning. This project highlights the evolving nature of educational purpose and how educators’ perceptions of space are influenced by their core educational philosophies. Interestingly, the affordances perceived outside of the TEALE model align more closely with the European concept of “Bildung” and a more participatory approach to 21st-century learning.

MRP Topic: Design Affordances and User Perception: Investigating the Relationship Between Space Design and Pedagogical Possibility in an Innovative Learning Environment

This was a foresight project that looked at the subjective, inter-subjective, objective, and inter-objective perspectives of the experience of live music festivals across Canada. It compared and contrasted insights gathered from academic literature, interviews of Artistic and Executive Directors of Canadian music festivals, and the facilitation of participatory workshops to generate design fiction artefacts of a future-oriented live music festival set approximately 10 years in the future. The scenario of "The Possible Futures Music Festival" was utilized to promote participatory action research methodology as a way to look at what is probable, plausible, possible, and preferable for live music festivals in a world that continues to oscillate between simple, complicated, complex and chaotic constraints.

MRP Topic: The Evolution of Fandom for Live Music Festival Experiences

“there is a sweet spot between the known and the unknown where originality happens; the key is to be able to linger there without panicking”Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar.

All design involves shaping the future - from an industrial design prototype that combines new and old materials to a strategic designer grappling with the complexities of inter-connected systems, each one is optimistically moving towards an intended future. To design such futures, we need more than research, analysis, synthesis and strategy. We need a commitment to and a deep appreciation of design methods. Ultimately the most nuanced and insightful foresight work is realized through design, design that moves people towards preferred futures.

Whose future? How to frame such complex problems? How to consider and weigh potential future pathways? These vexing issues paralyze inexperienced designers, often appearing as a collection of magical acts that are a rarefied mix of process, experience and intuition. How then does an inexperienced designer move from novice to expert?

Our research has been informed by a comprehensive literature review of design and design history, a survey of design practitioners and industry interviews with both inexperienced and experienced design professionals. This report embraces a three-act structure and focuses on: the changing nature of design and designers and how education providers have responded to these challenges; a synthesis of survey and interview responses that helps define the future designer; and practical recommendations to assist novice designers in their continued learning towards the development of their own design practice.

Our key findings include the realization that design methods are either assumed or overlooked in most graduate design programs that focus on futures related endeavors. Further, through synthesis, we distilled six insights, which include: Good design starts with advocacy; design is an anticipatory state of being; on the road to mastery, designers need more than experts; design depth over scratching the surface; design literacy matters and going beyond the algorithm to develop curiosity.

These insights are intended to act as inspirational criteria for crafting design learning and we offer a prototype that combines physical and digital tools to assist the novice designer. Our hope is that this prototype encourages the development and adoption of design habits - habits that are more than just efficiencies or techniques, but rather the forging of an identity, towards becoming a designer of futures.

MRP Topic: Designing the Future by Empowering Novice Designers

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is fostering a growing impact on the graphic design industry, driven by its capacity to effectively automate and streamline design activities and processes. This includes creating visual content, generating complex and realistic images and graphics, editing images, transforming design aesthetics, and inspiring design concepts. As technology continues to advance, AI is expected to have a more significant influence on the graphic design field, with integration into existing tools such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator being the most overt example. However, the use of AI in graphic design also raises ethical concerns and challenges that need to be addressed. These include job displacement, privacy threats, intellectual property issues, data bias, and transparency issues.

This research project will explore the implications of incorporating AI into graphic design processes. Through an in-depth literature review, a series of interviews with graphic design professionals, and an analysis of current AI applications and technologies, the study will highlight potential benefits, challenges, and ethical considerations surrounding the integration of AI in graphic design. The aim of this investigation is to help graphic design professionals make informed decisions regarding the use of AI in their work, and shed light on the changing graphic design landscape and the implications it will face due to the integration of AI.

MRP Topic: Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Graphic Design: Identifying Benefits, Challenges, and Ethical Considerations

In the realm of creativity, the challenge of collaboration without sacrificing individual integrity remains significant, with some individuals and groups historically compromising more than others. This study investigates whether co-design practitioners can derive valuable insights from creative processes, such as dance, to enhance efforts. This autoethnographic research is written from the ‘I’ perspective, chronicling the making of a documentary using interviews, dance classes, personal journals and reflections from the researcher and her dad, a main participant. It explores the research process as a site for healing and embodied learning. This study explores influences on creative practices, extending choreographer Twyla Tharp’s insights on lived experience and expression into a conceptual systems model for reflection on evolving dynamics affecting the self in relation to others. The study advocates for broader recognition of reflective, embodied practices alongside community engagement as pivotal in design and especially in co-design work. 

MRP Topic: Maybe We're Creative: What I Learned about Co-creation in Design by Dancing with My Dad

The MRP proposes to investigate and evaluate strategic foresight methods by applying them to a real world case study. Drawing from theories like Richard Slaughter’s social foresight and works by Maree Conway, this project aims to explore how foresight can be used as a tool for organizational innovation and resilience. Specifically, it will examine the use of foresight methods to transform a creative consulting firm.

Jackpine will act as a living laboratory to explore Conway’s foresight philosophy applied both towards internal operations and incorporated into client projects.

MRP Topic: Exploring the Future at the Edge of Chaos: A transformation of Jackpine using strategic foresight

Although makerspaces present opportunities to enhance community wellbeing and social innovation, the potential of the Canadian makerspace ecosystem has yet to be realized. In combining tools and methods from the fields of design thinking, systems thinking, and business strategy, this research reveals insights and identifies opportunities towards strengthening Canada’s makerspace ecosystem. 
 
Community in the Making follows a three step methodology: Part 1 – Framing, Part 2 – Situating, and Part 3 – Learning. Part 1 begins by exploring the concept of makerspaces, their history, and their context within Canada’s social economy, through background research and a literature review. Part 2 then provides an overview of the makerspace climate in Canada, based on a research questionnaire, with a focus on existing makerspace attributes, structures, and business models. Lastly, Part 3 presents nine themes, and corresponding opportunities, developed from interviews and site visits, which suggest ways to enhance makerspace viability and elevate makerspace impact across Canada. These nine themes are: 

Measuring Magic: Conveying Makerspace Meaning(fulness); 

The Pursuit of Creativity; 

Placed-based Spaces; 

Third (maker)Space; 

Locked Out: Rentals and Real Estate; 

“Vibes” Are Everything; 

The Power of Partnerships; 

The Internal Economy; and 

Removing Barriers to Access. 

The project concludes with the finding that makerspaces are far more than places to make; they are hubs for social innovation and creativity, and most importantly, vibrant communities integral to Canada’s creative ecosystem. 

The hope is that this work will spark conversations and promote collaboration across Canada’s maker community, in an effort towards building a thriving makerspace ecosystem in Canada. 

MRP Topic: Community in the Making: Exploring opportunities to enhance the Canadian makerspace ecosystem 

The research project explores an idealized future where fundamental human needs, including food, water, shelter, and internet access, are recognized as basic rights and guaranteed to all individuals. Through a holistic framework called the Holistic Progression Network (HPN), this project envisions a society where individuals are empowered to pursue self-actualization and contribute meaningfully to societal progress. By eliminating economic barriers to essential resources and adopting a decentralized, token-based economy, HPN redefines the financial system, prioritizing human flourishing over mere economic growth. The project delves into the societal, cultural, technological, and economic aspects of this envisioned future, proposing systemic innovations and product ideas to support the HPN framework.

MRP Topic: Holistic Progression Network: Future of the financial system

This Major Research Project challenges prevailing perspectives on community engagement processes and spatial design, which are often colonial, capitalist, and anthropocentric. Instead, it proposes a multi-dimensional approach that takes into account planetary life-support systems, natural limits, human rights, and inclusive decision-making processes.
The study explores three main areas: the impact of globalization on colonization, bioregionalism in spatial design, and communal visioning. Through an extensive literature review, the study sheds light on how settler perspectives dominate the design of actions that interact with spaces and shape our envisioned future for the physical environment. Expert interviews uncover critical themes in the ongoing effort to decolonize processes and foresight tools when working with communities. Meanwhile, the literature review on bioregionalism and spatial justice challenges the prevailing mechanistic mindset regarding nature and resource distribution, emphasizing the inclusion of non-human actors and promoting emotional connection and responsible interaction with the natural environment.
Building upon our research findings, this study presents best practices in the realm of decolonization and foresight, and integrates them in a guidance framework for community planning and spatial design. The conceptual foundations of this framework have been previously employed by various foresight and decolonization practitioners who worked with communities, and what this framework aims to highlight are the effective practices and the core principles necessary when conducting inclusive and non-anthropocentric communal visioning with a focus on spatial design. There are six key principles guiding this framework: ‘Culturally informed’,’ Decentering dominant narratives’, ‘Mandatory inclusion of all actors’, ‘Non-anthropocentric approach’, ‘Empowering Stakeholders’, and ‘Forward Thinking’. The framework is portrayed in a 5 stage life cycle of a tree, illustrating the natural progression of life and growth, which emphasizes the holistic and interconnected system of actors and their functions within the framework.

MRP Topic- Community Visioning through the Lens of Spatial Justice: A Guidance Framework for Inclusivity & Ecological Resilience

Creativity is often implicitly understood but seldom detailed in design paradigms and practices. It is supposed to happen, but how it unfolds in these contexts is underexplored and disconnected from existing disciplinary research. This research paper uses generative design research methods to explore the relationship between creativity and design in real-world design contexts and from the viewpoint and experiences of practitioners. It aims to move beyond simply accepting creativity's hidden role in design practice by surfacing how it emerges and works to understand it better and inform designers of how it might actively be cultivated and practiced alongside design tasks.

With more cross-over between fields, the notoriety of design thinking, and an expanding set of methods, tools, and techniques, some of which claim to be inherently creative, paying attention to the nuances of creativity is valuable in an evolving design landscape focused on new and improved ways of thinking, doing, and innovating. The findings highlight creativity's dynamic and sometimes contentious nature in current practices, offering practical insights and implications, connections to relevant creativity theory, and contributing to a deeper contextual understanding of creativity in design practice.

MRP Topic: Locating Creativity in Design Practice.

In this paper, I explore whether and how strategic foresight could play a more significant role in shaping equitable, just, and sustainable futures. I critique and challenge the mainstream approach to strategic foresight by highlighting its limitations towards exploring and envisioning futures centering equity, justice, and shared well-being. Secondly, I delve into how sacred practices may help to create pathways toward these futures. I am looking to explore how individual and collective efforts for building our desired futures be strengthened by honouring the sacred and reclaiming different ways of knowing and being through practises we individually and collectively deem sacred. Data for this study was collected via a literature review and expert interviews.

Expert interviews were analyzed via a thematic analysis. My findings suggest that due to various limitations embedded the field of strategic foresight, there is both an urgency and need for its ability to centre equity and diversity in many ways. As such honouring the sacred and sacred practises could have a role to play within this. Sacred practises also offer a different way for strategic foresight to contend with how it can play a larger role in building equitable, just, and sustainable futures.

In conclusion, I argue that radical imagination needs to continue to exist unobstructed in the hands of people and communities. I strongly believe that one of the gateways to harness the power of radical imagination is through sacred practices.

MRP Topic: STRATEGIC FORESIGHT & SACRED PRACTISES

“There is a sweet spot between the known and the unknown where originality happens; the key is to be able to linger there without panicking.”
Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar
All design involves shaping the future - from an industrial design prototype that combines new and old materials to a strategic designer grappling with the complexities of inter-connected systems, each one is optimistically moving towards an intended future. To design such futures, we need more than research, analysis, synthesis, and strategy. We need a commitment to and a deep appreciation of design methods. Ultimately the most nuanced and insightful foresight work is realized through design, design that moves people towards preferred futures.
Whose future? How to frame such complex problems? How to consider and weigh potential future pathways? These vexing issues paralyze inexperienced designers, often appearing as a collection of magical acts that are a rarefied mix of process, experience, and intuition. How then does an inexperienced designer move from novice to expert?
Our research has been informed by a comprehensive literature review of design and design history, a survey of design practitioners and industry interviews with both inexperienced and experienced design professionals. This report embraces a three-act structure and focuses on: the changing nature of design and designers and how education providers have responded to these challenges; a synthesis of survey and interview responses that helps define the future designer; and practical recommendations to assist novice designers in their continued learning towards the development of their design practice.
Our key findings include the realization that design methods are either assumed or overlooked in most graduate design programs that focus on futures-related endeavors. Further, through synthesis, we distilled six insights, which include: Good design starts with advocacy; Design is an anticipatory state of being; On the road to mastery, Learn from travelers; Design depth over scratching the surface; Going beyond the algorithm to develop curiosity and Design literacy matters.
These insights are intended to act as inspirational criteria for crafting design learning, and we offer a prototype that combines physical and digital tools to assist the novice designer. We hope this prototype encourages the development and adoption of design habits - habits that are more than just efficiencies or techniques, but rather the forging of an identity, towards becoming a designer of futures.

MRP Topic: Designing Futures by Empowering Novice Designers.

The built environment in Ontario contains a diverse array of structures, spaces, and infrastructure systems designed to support and enhance the lives of its residents. But structures also create waste. Lots of waste. This paper is about that.
This research examines why we have so much waste and explores what can be done about it. It investigates a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities for innovative, underused, or cross-sectoral Ontario provincial policy options that can foster the circular use of waste and grow the circular built environment.
It combines a literature review of global and local practices, semi-structured interviews with stakeholders across various sectors, and a systemic analysis of provincial waste management policies. Additionally, it leverages information from a participatory design workshop with government officials and industry professionals that utilized generative design and foresight tools to develop innovative policy solutions.
Finally, this paper aims to be solution-oriented and innovative but grounded in today's policy conversation. It aims to support policy-makers and decision-makers by offering a series of policy interventions to transform Ontario's waste management and development practices towards a more circular system.

MRP Topic: Developing a Circular Building Materials System and Fostering Innovation from Construction, Demolition and Renovation (CRD) Waste: An Ontario-focused Systemic Policy Analysis and Blueprint for Change

As digitalization becomes increasingly integrated into our daily lives, it significantly reshapes our communication habits, relationships with technology, interactions with society and individual and collective memory. With the proliferation of data being recommended to us at an incredible speed and amount, our cognitive liberty is at risk (Farahany, 2023a, 2023b) — a concern that has evolved from early debates over social media impacts to discussions about internet tracking for monetization and current concerns about digital ethics.

This research focuses on how predictive technologies embedded within our current social, political, and economic frameworks influence our thinking processes. These technologies often diminish our capacity for critical and pluralistic thought in favour of simplified, profit-driven content interactions. While these technologies facilitate information exchange across borders, they also promote a homogenized global culture, where views that do not align with the profit motives of digital platforms may be suppressed or manipulated.

The study examines these technologies' systemic behaviour and interactions across individual behaviours (micro), group and community dynamics (meso), and societal structures (macro), analyzing the roles and practices of various actors within the system to understand how they influence decisions and propagate specific worldviews. The primary aim is to explore how predictive technologies, often perceived as neutral, support worldviews founded on user engagement and monetization.

Ultimately, the research provides strategic responses for designing toward resilience to preserve cognitive liberty, aiming to foster a future that supports more worldview diversity and societal discourse. By addressing digital technologies' subtle but pervasive influences, this study contributes to the ongoing dialogue about maintaining human agency and diversity in thought in an increasingly algorithm-driven world.

MRP Topic: From Data to Mind: Memory and Cognitive Liberty in the Age of Predictive Technologies.

This research investigates the physiological and psychological impacts of tactile interactions with plants, focusing on the comparison between live plants as display mediums and technologically mediated remote relationships.

The study aims to understand how these different modes of interaction affect plant growth and human well-being. It also explores the emotional and psychological effects of physical touch with plants on human well-being, particularly in the context of the increasing prevalence of remote interfaces that lead to disconnection from natural environments.

The research further examines how specific physiological and psychological responses experienced by individuals when physically interacting with plants utilized as live display mediums compare to the experiences facilitated by remote interaction technology.The research aims to illuminate the symbiotic relationship between humans and plants, potentially influencing future human-plant interactions.

MRP Topic: The Future of Human-Plant Synergy in the Age of Remote Interaction.

In the rapidly evolving business landscape, the imperative for organizations to foster innovation while ensuring resilience has never been more critical. This Major Research Project delves into the intricate dynamics between innovation consultants and their clients, proposing a set of foundational principles aimed at cultivating resilience within this context.

Drawing from a blend of expert insights, practical experiences, and a comprehensive review of existing literature, this research outlines a two-domain
framework: one focusing on the internal resilience of innovation consulting firms themselves, and the other on the resilience fostered through their engagement with clients, particularly within the “project contact interface”.

The study introduces principles such as Tailored Alignment, Intellectual Empowerment, Narrative Engagement, and Aspirations-Aligned Success Metrics, each designed to address specific challenges and leverage opportunities for building resilience. These principles are not only intended to enhance the adaptability and robustness of client organizations but also ensure that the consulting firms themselves embody the resilience they advocate for.

MRP Topic: Accelerating Resilience in Innovation Consulting: A Practical Framework.

In the rapidly evolving business landscape, the imperative for organizations to foster innovation while ensuring resilience has never been more critical. This Major Research Project delves into the intricate dynamics between innovation consultants and their clients, proposing a set of foundational principles aimed at cultivating resilience within this context.

Drawing from a blend of expert insights, practical experiences, and a comprehensive review of existing literature, this research outlines a two-domain
framework: one focusing on the internal resilience of innovation consulting firms themselves, and the other on the resilience fostered through their engagement with clients, particularly within the “project contact interface”.

The study introduces principles such as Tailored Alignment, Intellectual Empowerment, Narrative Engagement, and Aspirations-Aligned Success Metrics, each designed to address specific challenges and leverage opportunities for building resilience. These principles are not only intended to enhance the adaptability and robustness of client organizations but also ensure that the consulting firms themselves embody the resilience they advocate for.

MRP Topic: Accelerating Resilience in Innovation Consulting: A Practical Framework.

Oral storytelling is the oldest form of instruction across a myriad of cultures. Humans are intrinsically storytellers who express themselves through stories that already exist (Fisher, 1987; Frank, 2012). This practice provides an opportunity for the older generation to hear their parents, grandparents, and elders tell those tales of legends and folktales (Vambe, 2004). Additionally, in various contexts, this foral storytelling is the oldest form of instruction across a myriad of cultures. Humans are intrinsically storytellers who express themselves through stories that already exist (Fisher, 1987; Frank, 2012). This practice provides an opportunity for the older generation to hear their parents, grandparents, and elders tell those tales of legends and folktales (Vambe, 2004). Additionally, in various contexts, this form of orality created a space for people to unwind after a difficult day and for families and communities to come together. Black and Afro-diasporic forms of storytelling, in particular, are intrinsically woven into the cultural fabric of Black culture, it has been a way to preserve the legacy of Africans and Black people who have been subjugated to decades of bondage, racial discrimination and forced migration. Black and Afro-diasporic storytelling, in its essence, is diverse and rich and is transmuted through a series of songs, dances and speeches (Vambe, 2004). This form of orality remains an essential form of knowledge sharing, wherein dreams, aspirations and imagination are translated across generations.

Black and Afro-diasporic forms of storytelling center the narrator “as a vehicle to house this orality” (Uyanze 2022, p.30), oftentimes, the storyteller functions as a repository of oral tradition and bearer of the collective memory. Throughout history, Black and Afrodiasporic communities have utilized storytelling as a conduit that has inspired silent rebellions against the oppressors who took black freedom (Vambe,2004) and has equally contributed to major breakthroughs for Black people and their consciousness to reclaim a sense of belonging that has led them to reconnect to their African roots. However, as we live in a world wherein Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly at the heart of modern life, as computer scientists are building a vast array of machine learning systems that can perform daily human tasks reliably across diverse sectors (Ebanda de B'béri, 2006; Tunçer, 2018). AI is showcasing its ability to capture the unique essence that makes us “human” through a self-teaching system that can outperform humans across a wide range of disciplines (Ebanda de B'béri, 2006; Tunçer, 2018). Researchers are predicting that AI will be able to pull even with human intelligence and what is known as a point of singularity (Ebanda de B'béri, 2006; Tunçer, 2018). However, this leaves one to question to what extent AI will have the potential to harness the persuasive capabilities of storytelling.

I believe AI may still have lessons to learn from more traditional bodies of knowledge and thought systems. This research will be exploring AI's potential to become the new griot of Black and Afro-diasporic communities? Furthermore, this research will be exploring whether AI will be able to improve or enhance Black and Afro-diasporic methods of storytelling.

MRP Topic: Narratives Reimagined: The Black Digital Griot in the Modern World.