Post-Detection Toolkit

This page is temporarily locked as we are in a process of final edits.

The Toolkit is in its final edit stage. To take part in the process and receive a notification when the Post-Detection Toolkit is open to edit, please send an email to: postdetectionhub@gmail.com. Addresses are kept private and are not added to any other lists.

What is the Post-Detection Toolkit?

The Post-Detection Toolkit grows out of the collective research efforts of the Scenarios Working Group at the SETI Post-Detection Hub at the University of St Andrews, led by Dr. George Profitiliotis. The structured resource combines pre-detection scenarios and a growing archive of post-detection scenarios developed through a 15-month participatory futures process (2023–2024) that imagined alternatives for the SETI ecosystem in 2050 and explored discovery and its aftermath.

The toolkit provides practical resources - scenarios, templates, checklists, and interactive methods - as well as guidance on how to adapt and use them. The Toolkit is a creative, participatory resource that makes futures thinking accessible: it uses storytelling, roleplay, and collaborative exercises. These activities help groups think comparatively, imaginatively, and consider how they might feel, act, and respond in unfamiliar or unprecedented situations.

A Commons Resource

As a living commons, the toolkit welcomes contributions from multiple contexts. Not all pages are editable, but anyone can contribute to the open sections, critique, or adapt the materials. This is in the support of ongoing dialogue and ensures the resource remains robust and relevant across different communities.

The post-detection scenarios archive is a living, open-ended resource. The strength of the archive lies in plurality and contributors are invited to add new scenarios, drawing on science fiction, history, or imagination.

Please see the Contributing Guidelines before adding your work.

Public Outreach

For the wider public, the Toolkit serves as an accessible and creative way to understand possible futures in the context of scenarios of discovery in 2050.

• A Tool for Dialogue and Participation: Participants consider the ethical, social, and emotional dimensions of possible futures together, and discuss what values and actions might matter most in those contexts. The goal is to include communities in policy questions and issues so that futures are shaped by diverse perspectives, not just experts.

• Designed to Engage: The Toolkit is approachable and used in workshops, public events, and community activities to invite broad participation in futures thinking about post-detection. It can be creatively adapted to different contexts, and the resource grows through participant engagement and input from transcultural contexts. So far, workshops have been held in Scotland, the USA, New Zealand, and Georgia, and are planned in Australia.

How to Use The Post-Detection Toolkit

• Explore existing pre- and post-detection scenarios, resources, and methods.
• Contribute new scenarios, tools, or reflections to expand the commons archive and strengthen collective readiness for discovery.
• Remix the toolkit through art projects, games, Live Action Role Play (LARP), or performance: adapting and repurposing scenarios so communities can explore post-detection.