WiserEarth Group Support

Jose Maria Ramos

Gender:   Male

Address:   28 Fontein St.
               West Footscray, Vic. 3012

Phone:    (03) 9029-4714

Email:     jose [at] actionforesight.net
   
Citizenship:   US Citizen and Australian Permanent Resident

Date of Birth:   24th of August, 1971

 

EDUCATION

2005 -  Undertaking PhD research through Queensland University of Technology, focused on examining alternative futures of globalisation through the World Social Forum Process.

2003  -  Master of Science in Strategic Foresight, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne. Emphasis on globalisation, social innovation and action learning.

1995  -  Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Literature, University of California, Irvine. Studies undertaken included Spanish, Japanese and Chinese language, philosophy and culture.

1989  -  Graduated from Whittier High School, Whittier, California.

 

EMPLOYMENT

2008 -   Lecturer on Social Research for International Community Development, bachelors degree students, Victoria University of Technology.

2005 - Instructor for Community Development Social Research, an experiential learning class on approaches to  research at Swinburne University of Technology, TAFE division.

2004 - 2005   Instructor of ‘Economy and Society’, introductory class on political-economy and globalisation at Swinburne TAFE Prahran, and NMIT in Melbourne. Part of the liberal arts and vocational pathways programs. 

2002 - 2005 Researcher for the Australian Foresight Institute. Duties include database development, scanning and survey research, report writing, interviewing, publications liaising and bibliographic compilation.

2002 - 2004 Abstractor, Bibliographic Services Ltd. This bibliographic research was undertaken to develop CD-ROM databases of magazine abstracts.

2000 May – December Copy Editor, Journal of Futures Studies. Taipei, Taiwan, Tasks undertaken included: copy editing, article abstracting, liaising with authors, and conducting analysis of the publication process. 

RECENT  PROJECTS

2006 -  Contributor to OASES graduate program in Integrative Education. Have assisted in developing curriculum and program.  

2006 -  Co-producer for ‘Plug in TV’ documentary show on Channel 31, Melbourne: 13 x 13 min. episodes focused on social / ecological justice issues.

2005  Co-facilitator of futures workshops for the Victorian Council of Social Services, and at peak conference exploring the futures of disabilities services in Queensland.

2004 -  Co-organiser for the Melbourne Social Forum. This event brings together NGOs and networks from across the Melbourne community, creating a forum for the   critique of globalisation and the exploration of alternatives to conventional interpretations of globalisation.

2004 - 2006 Advisory, consulting and research role for Desert Uplands Build-Up and Development Committee in Queensland. This committee, which is funded by the Queensland state government, aims to develop research strategies for sustainable land management and economic reform. 

2004 - 2005 Researcher for the Australian Foresight Institute. Responsibilities included report writing, the development of surveying/scanning research, in order to assess existing foresight capabilities across Australia.

2004 January  Representative for Borderlands Co-operative at the World Social Forum, Mumbai (Bombay),  India. Workshop facilitator on developing sustainable alternatives to economic globalisation.  

2003 Spring Liaison and co-editor for the 2004 edition,  ‘Knowledge Base of Futures Studies’, published through the Futures Studies Centre, Melbourne.

2003 Winter Interviewer and copy-editor for the World Futures Studies Federation. This project aimed to document the history of the organisation for web and journal publication.

2003 September Educator and facilitator for the Questacon Invention Convention, funded through SME Innovations. Duties included the curriculum development and implemenation of a five day training program, This program aimed to give young people greater capacity in launching progressive social ventures. The event was developed with Questacon of The National Science and Technology Centre in Canberra.

2003 Autumn  Organiser and facilitator for ‘globalisation learning circle’ at Borderlands Co-operative, Hawthorn.

2002 - Occasional lecturer on foresight, social innovation and action research for the Australian Foresight Institute, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne.

2002 -  Event and communications coordinator for the all-Victoria action research network SPIRAL  (systematic – participatory – inquiry – research – action – learning). This network, developed in partnership with Swinburne University of Technology’s Action Research Program headed by Dr. Yoland Wadsworth.

2002 Sept.  Process designer for the Community Economic Futures Action Learning Circles Project, piloted in 2003 in Brisbane.

2002 June – Sept. Coordinator for the Research-in-Action Symposium at Borderlands Co-operative, Hawthorn. This Symposium, which was organized in conjunction with Yoland Wadsworth,  brought together over ninety action researchers from across Victoria.

2002 March  Facilitator and designer for workshop on globalisation held at Trades Hall during the first Melbourne Social Forum.

2002 February – March  Intern at the Institute for Social Research, Swinburne University of Technology.  Projects undertaken aimed to examine issues related to public – funded community housing.

2001 Sept.-Nov. Co-designer and presenter of Univator,  an action learning workshop program held at the University of Melbourne faculty of science, in conjunction with Increasing Returns Ltd., This eight session action learning workshop  aimed to enhance participants foresight and innovation capacity in addressing sustainability issues.

2001 October  Co-designer and presenter/facilitator, scenarios workshop on strategic foresight for Orica Corporation. This program was run in conjunction with Increasing Returns Ltd, and was part of the corporation’s Live Wire program.

2000 May – December 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.

 

RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS

Ramos, J. and O’Connor,  A.  Co-editor of special issue for the Journal of Futures Studies on linking Foresight, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Nov 2007. (refereed journal)

Ramos, J. ‘Toward a politics of possibility: Charting shifts in utopian imagination through the World Social Forum Process’. Journal of Futures Studies, Volume 11, Number 2, 2006 (refereed article)

Ramos, J. ‘Conceptualising Agency Through the World Social Forum Process: A layered analysis of alternative globalisation’, Community Development in a Global Risk Society conference, 20 - 22 April 2006, Deakin University Conference Proceedings, 2007 (refereed article)

O’Connor, A. and Ramos J. ‘Empowering entrepreneurship through foresight and innovation: Developing a theoretical framework for empowerment in enterprise programs’, Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, Vol. 11, No. 3, 2006, 1–25 (refereed article)

Ramos, J. ‘Consciousness, culture and the communication of foresight’, Futures 38, 2006, 1119–1124

Ramos, J. ‘A Metascan of Natural Resource Management & Rural Futures Literature in Australia’, A Report for the Partnerships for Desert Uplands Solutions and Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Jan 2006.

Guest editor for the Journal of Futures Studies devoted to special issue Symposium on Action Learning, August 2005.

Ramos, J. ‘Dimensions in the confluence of futures studies and action research’, Futures, Elsevier, London, 2006. (refereed article)

Co-editor for Futures (Elsevier) special issue with Professor Sohail Inayatullah (University of Sunshine Coast), a special issue on action learning for sustainable futures – to be published in 2006.

Ramos, J. ‘Futures Education as Temporal Conscientisation’, Social Alternatives, University of Queensland, Vol. 24 No.4, Fourth Quarter, 2005 (refereed article)

Ramos J. ‘Global futures studies: evolving foundations of a meta-discourse’, Futures. Elsevier. Vol 37, Issue 10, December, 2005.

Ramos, J. ‘Memories and methods: conversations with Ashis Nandy, Ziauddin Sardar and Richard Slaughter’, Futures, Elsevier, Volume 37, Issue 5, June, 2005

Ramos, J. & Hillis D. ‘Anticipatory Innovation’. Journal of Futures Studies. 9(2): Nov. 2004 (refereed article)

Ramos, J. Metascanning foresight in Australia: a review of practitioners and organizations,  Australian Foresight Institute, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, 2004 (monograph)

Ramos J & Gaspar T. ‘Youth and WFSF: a generational approach’ Futures, Elsevier – in press, to be published in 2005 (refereed 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),  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 (refereed conference article)

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.M. Positive Community Futures through Action Foresight: a step-by-step approach’ in Wildman, P. & Schwencke, H. Your Community Learning: action learning circle, Brisbane, Community Learning Initiatives and Prosperity Press 2003

Ramos J. ‘Action Research as Foresight Methodology’, Journal of Futures Studies, August 2002 (refereed 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.] http://www.swin.edu.au/afi/Reviews.htm

Ramos J. ‘The Australia of the future: languishing in obscurity?’ Critique of Bulletin Article for the Australian Foresight Institute, Spring 2002 http://www.swin.edu.au/afi/the%20australia%20of%20the%20future.pdf  

Ramos J. ‘International Survey of Tertiary Futures Courses’, Australian Foresight Institute, May 2002 (survey research published online) http://www.swin.edu.au/afi/Research.htm

Ramos J. ‘Futures languages in Taiwan’, Futures, Elsevier, August 2001 (essay)

Ramos J. ‘NewFutures 2000: Grammar of the future’, Journal of Futures Studies, August 2001 (essay)

DOCUMENTARY FILMS

‘Climate change, the real options’, (2007) filmed and directed with Kurt Diegert.  12min, aired on C31 and web.  Examines the various option available in addressing climate change.

‘Another world is on her way’, (2007) filmed and directed with Sal Castro. 10min, aired on C31 and web. Explores the globalisation of indigenous struggles against neo-liberal economic globalisation.

‘What moves us’, (2007) filmed and directed. (Narrated by Frank Fisher). 12min, aired on C31 and web. A critique of  privatised transport in Melbourne and exploration of alternative possibilities.

‘What is the G20?’ (2007)  written and narrated. 12min, aired on C31 and web.  Examines the global economic and geo-political dimensions of the G20 group of nations, along with possible transformations.

 ‘Happy School’ (2006) 8min, aired on C31 and web. An inspiring story about how Australian community development students, backpacking through Cambodia, started the ‘Happy School’ and Australians for Cambodian Education. 

‘Oases’ (2006) 5min, aired on C31 and web. Looks at one of Australia’s most innovative and inspiring educational initiatives.

‘The World Social Forum process’ (2006) 12min, aired on C31 and web. Highlights the emergence of both global and local social forums.

‘Cyclovia’ (2006)  7min, aired on C31 and web. Documents a community development experiment in cyclists and pedestrians reclaiming their streets.

LANGUAGES

Proficient speaker of Spanish and Chinese (Mandarin). Can speak basic Japanese.