Susan Cox-Smith
Partner, Changeist
Susan Cox-Smith leads Changeist's work in capacity building, experiential design, and public engagement. A writer, designer, creative director, and researcher with over two decades of practice, she specializes in translating foresight research into narrative and experience — the work of making possible futures tangible enough for people to engage with, question, and act on.
Her projects range from capacity programs for executive teams at organizations including Microsoft, Netflix, Wells Fargo and NASA JPL to participatory platforms for policymakers and practitioners. In 2021 she led the design and delivery of a global online platform exploring feminist futures post-COVID for the International Women's Development Agency, engaging more than 200 practitioners and policymakers.
She co-leads Changeist's strategic simulations practice, including Foom, the firm's simulation on AI futures, deployed with BBC R&D and staged at FACT, ACMI Melbourne. She designed and co-delivered the How to Future capacity-building programs at Dubai Future Academy, and has shaped narrative and experience strategy for exhibitions and installations across Europe, Australia, and the Gulf — including FOREVER and BEGINNINGS at MOD. Museum of Discovery, Adelaide, and Building Future Cultures for Media Evolution, Malmö (2026).
Susan is contributing editor of How to Future (Kogan Page, 2020) and co-author of Future Cultures (Kogan Page, 2023). She was named one of Forbes' 50 Leading Female Futurists in 2022. Her writing has appeared in How We Get to Next, The Next Web, and Medium.
Selected engagements
Institutions and agencies — UNDP, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, International Women's Development Agency, Nesta
Media and communications — BBC R&D, Comcast
Financial services — AXA, JPMorgan Chase
Architecture and exhibition design — Atelier Brückner, Buro Happold, Aedas, MOD. Adelaide
Gulf — Dubai Future Academy, Mohammed Bin Rashid Center for Leadership Development
Teaching and affiliations
Visiting Research Fellow, University of South Australia
Instructor, Dubai Future Academy
Consultant and mentor, IED Barcelona
Faculty, Mohammed Bin Rashid Center for Leadership Development
Co-leader and project lead, 10F Consortium
Selected speaking
OECD Global Foresight Community · Media Evolution (Malmö) · ArtScience Museum Singapore · SIBOS · FACT 2025 (ACMI Melbourne) · Dubai Future Forum · UNDP Futures Series · Marató DHub (Disseny Hub Barcelona) · Earth Institute, Columbia University · A/D/O Brooklyn
Recognition
Forbes 50 Leading Female Futurists, 2022
Contact
To discuss a project, email Susan at scoxsmith@changeist.com or see what we do.