Vera Djakonoff

Clinging on to only what we currently have is a lousy way forward. At Demos Helsinki, Vera’s work focuses on anticipatory governance: promoting governments’ and organisations’ ability to both build resilience and drive transformation. A key question in her work is: how can we create and deepen our connection to the long-term in a way that translates into immediate action?

From Finland to South Sudan, she collaborates with ministries, UN agencies, academic institutions, and companies across various fields, such as digitalisation and social innovation. Vera has been responsible for planning and coordinating initiatives which bring together public, private, and research actors in an effort to shape impactful RDI agendas and policies. Her methodological expertise spans over strategic foresight, co-creation and governance design. Additionally, she has experience in designing and implementing capacity-building programs targeted at fostering the agency of civil servants and other experts in driving change by equipping them with the means for 21st-century governance.

In her free time, Vera enjoys cinema. Her current record is seeing 21 films in a week at the Love & Anarchy film festival.