Puruesh Chaudhary, M.A.

Puruesh Chaudhary, M.A. is an award-winning futures researcher and development and strategic narrative professional. She is Lecturer at the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology in Islamabad. Her work mostly involves futures research, knowledge-collaborations, and content intelligence within the framework of human security.

Puruesh is the Founder and President of the AGAHI, a nonprofit organization established in 2011. Its primary function is to create non-paid communication strategies, content intelligence structures, development collaterals and tools for diverse sectors and organizations. AGAHI encourages and advises individuals and institutions in pursuing and supporting initiatives to improve the state of development in Pakistan.

In 2014, Puruesh was Founder of Foresight Lab, where she is helping decision makers in improving the state of the people by providing relevant tools and instruments for information creation, knowledge generation, strategic narrative, and policy design.

Puruesh is the Chair of the Pakistan Node of The Millennium Project launched in 2014 and is on the Planning Committee of the Millennium Project Global Futures Studies and Research,with the help of AGAHI, which took the lead responsibility as a country Node for The Millennium Project in Pakistan to help improve humanity’s future prospects.

The Millennium Project is a global participatory think tank connecting 63 Nodes around the world that identify important long-range challenges and strategies, and initiate and conduct foresight studies, workshops, symposiums, and advanced training. Read APFN Conference And 2022 Award To Puruesh Chaudhary.

In 2016, she cofounded Karachi Futures. As the Director of this research initiative, she aims to understand the social and economic problems of Karachi in a much more deeper quantitative and qualitative sense and make sense of urban futures using data and technology, with the purpose of enabling a much smarter, digital enabled and overall better city — ready to leapfrog into the 4th Industrial Revolution.

She has been Senior Fellow since 2017 at the Institute of National Security Studies of Sri Lanka (INSSSL), the premiere National Defence think tank of Sri Lanka under the Ministry of Defence and the Founding Member of the Plurality University Network, a global, open organization that connects artists, designers, utopians, and activists who use the power of imagination to enable alternative futures.

Puruesh created the Asia Futures Network and is spearheading the Africa Knowledge Council since 2018, to bridge the understanding between the peoples of Pakistan and Africa. Additionally, Puruesh is the cofounder of the Media Development Trust and is a Founding Director of the Asia Institute of Public Policy since 2017.

She has also been recognized as a Global Shaper by the World Economic Forum in 2011 and became a Curator. Its Islamabad Hub works to improve society, both in local communities and at the global level. She has been nominated to the Forum’s Expert Network on Global Agenda.

In 2016, Puruesh became part of the Global Shapers Alumni Network. Their vision is to grow into an influential network of people across the world who are active ambassadors for the mission of the Global Shapers Community (GSC). In 2019, she became a Member of the Network of the Global Future Council on Human Rights and the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).

Puruesh was featured amongst the World’s top female futurists and has been recognized as the Pride of Pakistan. She won the Asia-Pacific Futures Network Award in 2022 for advancing futures thinking in the region. She is a Mentor for the UN-Habitat Youth Fund Programme. She has been on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Future Robot Life since 2019. She is a Member of the Network of Global Future Councils of the World Economic Forum on the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Puruesh is an ASPEN Alumni and Member and Advisor to the World Futures Society.

Puruesh earned her Master’s Degree in International Negotiation and Policymaking from the Institut De Hautes Études Internationales Et Du Développement, Geneva. She is an Alumna of Harvard University and Singularity University, andis the youngest Alumna at the National Defence University in Pakistan.

She also teaches Strategic Communication at the National University of Sciences and Technology and The Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science & Technology. Her lectures on futures thinking, methodologies, and techniques and strategic communication are held at Staff College Quetta, National School of Public Policy, Foreign Service Academy, and the Senior Management Course of Pakistan.

Puruesh began her career as Assistant Commercial Manager at Porsche Pakistan in 2005 where she was setting up their Operations in Lahore and Karachi. She was the Account Executive at Coca Cola Export Corporation in 2006, handling the corporation’s public affairs, CSR-activities and their European edition. She continued as Assignment Editor and Bulletin Producer at DawnNews TV between 2007 and 2009.

Her work into Futures Studies began in 2009, when she became the Futures Editor at SAMAA TV where she was developing programming and news content according to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

Between 2010 and 2013, she worked as Senior Counsel and Advisor for Idea Simple, Chef Executive at Foxtrot Consultants, and Project Director at Internews Europe.

From 2010 until 2015, Puruesh was the Director at Mishal Pakistan, a media and strategic communication’s company on policy designs which is at the forefront of communications solutions and is actively pursuing initiatives to improve the state of media and journalism in Pakistan.

The Center of Internet Media Ethics honored her to serve as its Ambassador to Pakistan between 2011 and 2015, campaigning for quality journalism in the country. She now sits on CIME’s Board of Advisors.

She was a Distinguished Fellow 2015 at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI).

Puruesh has worked with multilateral donors and aid agencies, news organizations and multinationals in advancing development efforts in Pakistan. She has been invited to various international and domestic forums to speak on futures, storytelling, and human security. She has been a professional broadcast editor and has worked in leading news channels in Pakistan, both in Urdu and English, designing, developing and planning content for news, current affairs and other special assignments.

She assists and works on various communication and journalism development programmes with UNESCO, UNICEF, DANIDA, CIME, Media Helping Media, Internews Europe, Pakistan Institute for Peace and Security, Faith-Matters, International Center for Journalists, Center for Investigative Journalism Bosnia-Sarajevo, International Media Support, Investigative Dashboard, Ministry for Information and Broadcasting of the Government of Pakistan, BBC College of Journalism, Fatima Jinnah Women University, Naya Jeevan, National Defence University, and the Press Council of Pakistan.

Since 2011, Puruesh, in collaboration with the Press Clubs in Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa, and Azad Kashmir, has inducted a thoroughly designed programme on Investigative Journalism and Responsible Reporting for over 400 journalists in 2011–12 which included:

• Investigative Journalism and Media Ethics, InterFaith,
• Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Organisation Funding,
• Journalism and Society “Millennium Development Goals”,
• Reporting in Terrorism and Conflict, Social Media and Journalism,
• Safety Training.

Scaling up on the Media Development efforts in Pakistan, Puruesh organized the First-Ever Journalism Awards in the country called the Agahi Awards, with support of leading international media development institutes/partners, academia, the government of Pakistan, private sector including several other stakeholders — recognizing the local journalists on producing counter-narratives in 15 different categories; under the slogan of Shaping the Future of Journalism.

She has created several scholarship opportunities through Press Clubs and Universities (Peshawar and Balochistan) for students aspiring to become professional media and communications workers and leaders through industry-academia linkages. She has also developed the first Online Journalism course, which is being taught in several universities across Pakistan, by training the educationists and practitioners.

She coauthored The Future of Business, to provide a broad perspective on the key forces, trends, developments, and ideas that will redefine our world over the next two decades.

She also produced the foresight research compilation on Pakistan State of Future Index – Anticipating 2027 and authored The Future of Possibilities – Pakistan 2029 and The Big Idea: Next Generation of Leadership in Pakistan needs a ‘New-Think’ among others.

Watch Puruesh Chaudhary on Adopting New Ways of Thinking, The Next 50 Years, Puruesh Unveils, and Sky is the Limit.

Listen to Shaping the Future of Journalism and The State of the Future.

Read Where is the planning for the future? and Technology & innovation to the rescue.

Follow her Contributions in the Journal of Future Studies.

Visit her LinkedIn profile, Flickr profile, Wikipedia Page, Flickr page, and ReasearchGate profile. Follow her on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Academia and Twitter.