Uncovering the Now - Challenges & Successes: The workshop begins by grounding the discussion in the participants' collective experience. The session aims to build a shared understanding of the current state of EPAIS research and practice. Activities like Impromptu Networking serve as an icebreaker, while the core exercise, 1-2-4-All, systematically surfaces the most significant unsolved problems and persistent challenges in the field. These insights are then visualized and explored in a Shift & Share gallery, creating a rich map of the current landscape.
Envisioning the Future - What Could Be? Shifting from current problems to future possibilities, the second session encourages creative and ambitious thinking. Using Ecocycle Planning, participants map existing and emerging EPAIS topics to identify what needs to be nurtured, scaled, or creatively retired. This is followed by 25/10 Crowd Sourcing, a rapid and democratic method for generating and prioritizing bold, game-changing ideas that could define the next decade of EPAIS. The outcome is a shared, high-impact vision for the future.
Bridging the Gap - Identifying Research Topics: This session connects the present reality with the desired future to generate the substance of the roadmap. Participants use Wicked Questions to frame the deep, paradoxical challenges that inhibit progress (e.g., balancing automation with human creativity). To uncover innovative research avenues, the groups then apply TRIZ, a powerful problem-solving technique that involves brainstorming ways to make the problem worse, and then reversing those ideas to reveal non-obvious solutions and research strategies.
Synthesizing the Roadmap & Defining Action: The final session focuses on convergence and commitment. The central activity, What, So What, Now What?, guides small groups to synthesize the outputs from the entire day into 3-5 major research themes for the roadmap. Crucially, this exercise culminates in defining concrete next steps, such as initiating a joint vision paper or a journal special issue. In addition, all participants will jointly brainstorm the top-10 predictions for how EPAIS will look in the year 2030. The workshop concludes with 15% Solutions, where each participant identifies and commits to a small, immediate action they can take personally, ensuring that the momentum generated during the day translates into tangible progress for the EPAIS community.