A World Leader in Scenario Planning and a Pioneer in Organizational Aesthetics

Rafael Ramirez is a Professor of Practice at the Saïd Business School, Oxford University. He also directs the award-winning Oxford Scenarios Programme, and is the Academic Director of the Oxford Collaborative Strategy Lab. He has been elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences since 2019, and has been a Governing Body Fellow in Strategy at Green-Templeton College, University of Oxford since 2003. He is one of the worlds leading experts on scenario planning. As a researcher and advisor, he has worked extensively with NGOs, corporations, inter-governmental organizations, governments and think tanks around the world.

Rafael is the author of several books and many scholarly papers, and he sits on the editorial boards of three scenario planning journals. His most recent book was "Strategic Reframing: The Oxford Scenario Planning Approach" — 2018 Oxford University Press, co-authored with Angela Wilkinson. He has also published 2016: Strategy for a Networked World – (2016 Imperial College Press) co-authored with Ulf Mannervik.

Examples of presentation and engagements include sharing his expertise in scenario planning, interactive and networked strategy and aesthetics to business corporations around the world, and at conferences. His presentation topics include;

• Scenario Planning: Rather than trying to predict the future, organizations need to strengthen their abilities to cope with uncertainty. A new approach to scenario planning can help companies reframe their long-term strategies by developing several plausible scenarios
• Interactive and Network Strategy: How to build your network to align your work with your goals, in a world which is increasingly networked, more turbulent, uncertain, fast-changing and ambiguous?
• He also discusses Designing Strategy, Collaborative Strategy and Aesthetics in Business

He has worked with a range of organizations including Air Liquide, Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris, AT&T, AXA, BMW Group, The Canadian Labour Congress, Diabetes UK, the Financial Conduct Authority; the European Patent Office, the European Roundtable of Industrialists, Eurotunnel, HP, the IAEA, the IDB, the IMF, The NYC Department of Juvenile Justice, Nissan Europe, O2, Rolls-Royce, Scottish Water, Schneider-Electric, Standard Chartered Bank, Statoil, Suez International, Trenitalia, the United European Gastroenterologists; UNDP, UK Space, Wärtsilä, and the World Economic Forum.

Prior to joining Saïd Business School at Oxford University, he was part of Shell's scenarios team. He was formerly also a Professor of Management in HEC in Paris. Rafael earned his PhD from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, his Masters degrees from York University in Toronto, and from Oxford University. He is fluent in French, Spanish, and English, and is currently resident in the UK.

Rafael is an inspiring speaker. When he collaborated with Innobasque, he had the difficult objective of changing the mind of an audience without experience in foresight, and moving them to action. And he managed to catch their attention and show them the way to be able to start foresight exercises in their companies. It is always a pleasure to listen to him -- not only in his lectures and conferences, but also in smaller conversations and discussions -- because he stimulates the brains of his interlocutors and generously shares his knowledge, experience and ideas, which are those of a real polymath.
Lola Elejalde Hernani - Foresight and Internationalisation Director -- Innobasque

Rafael Ramirez is truly one-of-a-kind. As Oxford University's first-ever Professor of Practice, Rafael is able to blend an academic and practitioner point-of-view that seldom is found. His decades of experience in scenario planning help the world's top leaders work with the future in thoughtful, tangible ways as opposed to futurists who pontificate without ties to sound strategic thinking. He's brilliant but approachable, quick-witted and humble. Our clients found his theories and anecdotes sound and relatable. Can't recommend enough.
Claire Blake – Executive Director – World 50 Inc

We were privileged to have such a world-renowned Scenario Planning expert, Prof Rafael Ramirez as a panellist during the TM One LEAP Summit 2020 with the topic "Reimagine a Digital-Ready Future with Scenario Planning". Prof Rafael articulated on scenario planning in action for digitalization in various industries namely energy, telco, government etc. It is crucial to have the right contacts for scenario planning such as Prof Rafael to create future-proof resilience strategies. We're glad to know that scenario planning is very adaptable, and can be appropriately applied in many contexts from large enterprise, public sector and also for exciting new technologies like Cloud, AI, IoT, Cyber Security etc.
Shamsul Bin Shaari – Head of Marketing Innovation, TM ONE & AGM, Telekom Malaysia