What will it mean to be a researcher in 2040, and who will decide?
This video explores how acceleration, concentration and contestation could shape the global science, technology and innovation landscape and put researchers’ careers under pressure.

It introduces Living Knowledge 2040 — a deliberately ambitious aspirational scenario for Europe that responds to these same forces through publicly governed AI, a trustworthy and plural knowledge ecology, and new forms of working, including human–AI swarms and Action-Networks. Underpinning it are wellbeing, collective work, public value, openness, meaning and full expression.

Created within the Eye of Europe project, the video is part of the series Foresight in Action – Stories on foresight practice across Europe.

The scenarios originate in The Futures of Researchers’ Careers: What Challenges for EU Policy?, a Foresight on Demand project funded by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD).

The future of the European science system fundamentally depends on its researchers, and it is therefore essential to continue fostering attractive and sustainable research careers. Yet, a wide range of challenges is currently shaping both researchers’ professional trajectories and the broader EU research and innovation ecosystem.

Against this backdrop, DG Research & Innovation commissioned the Foresight On Demand team to conduct a study with the following objectives:

• Identify long term trends and disruptions affecting researchers’ careers in Europe.
• Develop plausible scenarios (to 2040) for the evolution of the EU’s researcher workforce.
• Propose policy pathways and identify challenges. The study will outline potential EU level policy approaches and governance reforms that could generate added value through coordinated action.

By informing policymaking, the study’s findings will aim to support greater coordination among Member States and strengthen the effectiveness of governance structures, funding mechanisms, and frameworks for research career development across Europe.