Jose has worked across a number of sectors to bring greater foresight and innovation capacity into communities and organisations. Through action learning he helps to facilitate critical inquiry into questions of whole system sustainability, and bridge this with practical knowledge in social legitimation within a process of 'action foresight.'

Originally born and raised in California, he has lived and worked in a number of countries, including Spain, Japan, Taiwan, and Australia, and is culturally fluent in several languages. He holds a Masters of Science in Strategic Foresight from the Australian Foresight Institute and a Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Literature from the University of California at Irvine.

Currently working as a consultant and researcher Jose is associated with the Australian Foresight Institute and the Institute of Social Research's Action Research Program, both located at Swinburne University of Technology's Hawthorn Campus.

Knowledge Base

• Cross-cultural and cross linguistic experience and understanding;
• Futures studies and foresight capacity building experience;
• Sustainability and environmental science research experience;
• Action research knowledge and project experience;
• Globalisation research and project experience;
• Innovation research and project experience; and,
• Business strategy research and experience.

Methods and Tools

• Survey research;
• Scenario building and writing;
• Soft systems and complex adaptive systems modelling;
• Environmental Scanning;
• Strategic planning;
• Trend analysis;
• Causal layered analysis;
• Organisational and community visioning;
• Action learning;
• Value systems analysis;
• Delphi surveying;
• Guided visualisation;
• Backcasting;
• Emerging Issues Analysis;
• Progress indicators (TBL etc);
• Historical context analysis;
• Integral analysis; and,
• Innovation roadmapping.

Recent Projects

• Advising Desert Uplands Committee Build Up and Development sustainable land management initiative in the Desert Upland region;
• Network facilitator and advisor for Swinburne University of Technology's Action Research Program;
• Community development and organising across various NGOs in Melbourne to employ open space process in exploring globalization and sustainability issues;
• Liaison coordinator for new edition of the Knowledge Base of Futures Studies;
• Undertaken comprehensive comprehensive survey and scanning research of futures tools and techniques being used across all Australia for the Australian Foresight Institute;
• Co-developed and co-delivered the Questacon Invention Convention with SME Innovations, a five day 'action learning' conference in Canberra for young people to develop progressive social ventures in teams. Sponsored by 'Backing Australia's Ability' and Swinburne University of Technology;
• Undertaken extensive archiving and documentation work for the World Futures Studies Federation;
• Conducted emerging issues analysis of industrial innovations for SME Innovations;
• Helped develop an all-Victoria Action Research network through Borderlands Co-op together with Yoland Wadsworth, now named SPIRAL (Systemic-Participatory-Inquiry-Research-Action-Learning);
• Designed action learning process for Brisbane based Community Economic Futures Action Learning Circles Project, using participatory environmental scanning methods;
• Coordinated the Research-in-Action Symposium at Borderlands with Yoland Wadsworth., bringing together over 90 action researchers from across Victoria.;
• Designed and implemented an eight session action learning workshop at Melbourne University's faculty of science as part of Univator program, in conjunction with Increasing Returns Ltd. The workshop was designed to enhance participants foresight and innovation capacity for sustainable design;
• Designed and implemented scenarios workshop on strategic foresight for Orica Corporation's Live Wire program in conjunction with Increasing Returns Ltd; and,
• Co-ordinator and Liason for NewFutures 2000, a conference of international scholars held at Tamkang University, Taipei, Taiwan. Duties included assisting visiting scholars with their particular needs while in Taiwan, translation (Chinese to English, and vice-versa) and co-ordinating conference activities.

Publications

• Co-editor for Futures (Elsevier) special issue with Professor Sohail Inayatullah (University Sunshine Coast), a special issue on action learning for sustainable futures – to be published in 2005.
• Ramos, J. Metascanning foresight in Australia: a review of practitioners and organizations, Australian Foresight Institute, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne – in press, to be published in spring 2004 (monograph).
• Ramos J & Gaspar T. Youth and WFSF: a generational approach Futures, Elsevier – to be published in 2005 (article).
• Ramos J. Deep Participation and Causal Layered Analysis, CLA Reader, Inayatullah S. (ed) – to be published 2004 (book chapter).
• Ramos J. A Bibliographic Narrative of Causal Layered Analysis, CLA Reader, Inayatullah S. (ed), to be published in 2004 (book chapter).
• Ramos J. The Mumbai World Social Forum: alternative futures from the grassroots, Journal of Futures Studies, May 2004 (report).
• Ramos J. The Mumbai World Social Forum and the marriage of local and global, New Community Quarterly, May 2004 (report).
• Ramos J. & O’Connor A. Social Foresight, Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship: Pathways Toward Sustainability paper presented at the AGSE Babson Conf. on Entrepreneurship at Swinburne Uni. Tech, Feb. 2004.
• Ramos J. & Salvagno D. What is the alternative? New Community Quarterly, vol 1, no. 2, winter 2003 (essay).
• Ramos J. From Critique to Cultural Renewal: Critical Futures Studies and Causal Layered Analysis, Australian Foresight Institute, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne 2003 (monograph).
• Ramos J. Action Foresight: Step by Step, Community Economic Futures Action Learning Circles Project, August 2002 (for action research / learning community development resource kit developed by Paul Wildman).
• Ramos J. Action Research as Foresight Methodology, Journal of Futures Studies, August 2002 (article) Also to be published in Knowledge Base of Future Studies, 2005.
• Ramos J. Book Review for Australian Foresight Institute web site, Winter 2002 [Strategic Foresight: The Power of Standing in the Future Nick Marsh with Mike McCallum and Dominique Purcell, Crown Content, Flinders Lane, Melbourne, Australia, 2002, pp ix + 299.] Avaliable online here.
• Ramos J. The Australia of the future: languishing in obscurity?, Critique of Bulletin Article for the Australian Foresight Institute, Spring 2002. Avaliable online here.
• Ramos J. International Survey of Tertiary Futures Courses, Australian Foresight Institute, May 2002 (survey research publication) Avaliable online here.
• Ramos J. Futures languages in Taiwan, Futures, Elsevier, August 2001 (essay).
• Ramos J. NewFutures 2000: Grammer of the future, Journal of Futures Studies, August 2001(essay).