Tracey Follows is a futurist, author and speaker exploring how technology is changing who we are, and who we might become.

Her work examines identity, agency and selfhood in an age increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, digital systems and technological change, working at the intersection of philosophy, technology and futurology.

She is the founder of Futuremade and creator of System & Self™ and Me:chine®, with a body of work examining the changing relationship between systems and selves — the systems shaping the future, and the forms of selfhood becoming possible within them.

Her career spans more than 30 years across industry, strategy and foresight, including board-level leadership. Today, her work centres on two connected territories: Selfhood in the Synthetic Age, exploring who we are and who we can become as machines increasingly participate in human life; and The New World Re-Order, examining how power, technology and infrastructure are reorganising the systems around us.

We have always become ourselves through relationships — with families, communities, cultures and institutions. Now machines are becoming part of those relationships too.

Tracey’s work includes The Future of You, System & Self™ and Me:chine®. Taken together, they trace an evolving inquiry into identity and agency: from the digital and machine-readable self to a world in which machines increasingly participate in the making of the self.

You can read The Future of You: Can Your Identity Survive 21st Century Technology?, her original book on identity and emerging technology, and The Future of You: Five Years On — From Machine-Readable to Me:chine.

System & Self™ is Tracey’s worldview and foresight method for understanding what happens between the systems shaping us and the selves living within them — and for putting the self back into the future picture.

Me:chine® is Tracey’s ongoing body of research into what happens when machines begin to participate in the making of the self, exploring the relationship between the machinable and unmachinable dimensions of human identity.

Ranked among the Global Gurus Top 30 Futurists in 2025 and 2026, Tracey is recognised internationally for her work on technology, identity, commerce, culture and human agency.

She holds a First Class BA (Hons) in Philosophy and an MSc in Technological Change and Industrial Strategy from the University of Manchester, and has studied Futures and Strategic Foresight at the University of Houston.

Her central proposition: every future is written between the system and the self.

Tracey advises, teaches and delivers selected keynote talks for organisations including Google, the United Nations, the US State Department, FT Global Boardroom, Virgin, Coca-Cola, Farfetch, Aviva, Tesco, BAE Systems and Fortune.

Why work with Tracey?

• Thirteen years as a professional futurist, ranked among the Top 30 worldwide.

• Twenty preceding years in industry, including board-level leadership.

• Published author with original intellectual property and proprietary methodologies.

• Creator of System & Self™ and Me:chine®.

• BBC broadcasting experience, including as resident futurist on Radio 4’s Dough.

• Visiting Professorship and London Business School teaching.

• Major international platforms and strong client ratings.

• Glowing testimonials across keynote and advisory projects.

• See full CV including Wired, The Future Laboratory, Cannes Lions below