Association of Science and Technologies Centers

Global Trends Framework

During a session at the 2024 ASTC Annual Conference, attendees reflect on how their museums are responding to global trends.

ASTC’s Global Trends Committee is one of several ad hoc committees of ASTC’s Board of Directors. It provides a global perspective and advice to our Board and staff, including on how science and technology centers and museums around the world engage diverse communities on global challenges and societal trends, and how such trends are impacting the businesses of ASTC members. View current committee members here.

The Global Trends Framework

In 2023, the committee produced the Global Trends Framework. This framework contains descriptions of each of the five global trends identified by the committee, guiding questions to discuss within your organization, and recommended resources for further reading. This framework is intended to help the science museum field prepare for the future, rather than just reacting to changes as they arise, as well as providing inspiration for museums to reimagine the role that they can play in their communities. The five global trends are:

  1. Accelerating Pace of Change in Science & Technology
  2. Changing Demographics & Community Expectations
  3. Climate Change & the Biodiversity Crash
  4. Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, &  Inclusion (DEAI)
  5. Increasing Social Divisions

This framework was developed by the 2022-2023 Global Trends Committee Members (listed in the framework document), who were selected to represent a diverse range of museums to produce a more robust and broadly applicable framework. Additionally, committee members held conversations with other museum leaders to learn more about how these global trends are experienced in different parts of the world, and the unique ways that institutions are responding to them.

Download the Framework

Trend Briefs

In addition to the Framework, the committee has also produced Trend Briefs that dive deeper into some of the global trends. Each Trend Brief breaks down the trend into sub-trends that provide a more nuanced picture of what falls within that trend and how it may impact science museums, along with recommended resources to learn more.

Increasing Social Divisions

Trends like increasing nationalism, a loss of trust in government, media, and other institutions, the spread of misinformation, and polarization around specific scientific issues will change the ability and approaches to engage the public with science.
Read Brief

Accelerating Pace of Change

New research, discoveries, and developments in many areas of science—including health, food, and new technologies—are reshaping our society and changing the way we learn, work, and live.
Read Brief

Changing Demographics

The world population is becoming more urban, more internationally mobile, and the average age is increasing across many parts of the Global North, while young people are a greater proportion of the population in many parts of the Global South.
Read Brief

If you have any questions about the Global Trends Committee, contact Naomi Wallace at nwallace@astc.org. 

Scroll to Top