Welcome to the Thinking Ahead Institute’s 2025 Research Agenda. Our agenda is designed to foster innovation, enhance strategic thinking, and drive significant progress in key areas.
Our focus for 2025 includes exploring industry trends, deepening our understanding of wealth management, optimising organisational effectiveness, and addressing systemic risks. By exploring new methodologies, we aim to navigate the evolving landscape and build a resilient and prosperous future.
We invite all members to actively engage with our research initiatives, contribute their insights, and collaborate with peers. Together, we can shape the future of investment and create lasting value for our stakeholders.
TAI | LifeSight | Aware Super global DC peer study
The future of pension provision will be dominated by defined contribution (DC) arrangements. Consequently, organisations providing DC are likely to see substantial growth, which could attract significant competition, both of which imply significant management challenges. This peer study will therefore explore current and emerging global best practice among DC organisations.
The study will include in-depth comparison of leading DC organisations (both single-employer and pooled) in three key markets: the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom. By exploring these regions, the study aims to identify trends, regulatory shifts, and operational differences that have emerged over time, and that could be taken up in different regions.
The study will also explore:
- The current trend of consolidation in DC and its implications
- The benefits and challenges of DC master trusts
The findings of the study will be published in a report.
Target group: All members with an interest in DC pension provision
Time commitment: Questionnaire response up to 1 hour; interview with senior leader of 1 hour; optional attendance at 1-day summit in London or Australia
Contact: Jessica Gao
Related papers:
TPA senior leaders’ forum
Has your organisation considered a total portfolio approach (TPA)? Total portfolio approaches have been evolved by some leading organisations around the world as a more ‘joined up’ investment philosophy that results in a more streamlined approach to portfolio construction and, so far, meaningfully higher returns. This year, we are launching a ‘TPA senior leaders’ forum’, featuring expert speakers, original content, case studies and discussion. If you’re interested in enhancing your organisation’s investment strategy and learning from global leaders in this space, we encourage you to join the forum. Don’t miss the opportunity to connect with experts and peers while gaining valuable insights into TPA.
Visit our Total Portfolio Approach (TPA) content hub to get a better understanding.
Target group: All members – senior leaders in your organisation
Time commitment: 4 x 90min sessions, plus light pre-reading for each session
Contact: Roger Urwin
Related papers:
Global wealth study: beliefs and best practices
This global study aims to explore the beliefs and practices of wealth investors, enhance understanding of the wealth market and attract new global wealth businesses.
Main focuses: this study examines key wealth segments, exploring how individuals manage wealth, their motivations and challenges, investment strategies, advisor relationships, the balance between human and AI, and deeper drivers like ESG considerations.
The study will include:
- Quantitative survey
- Qualitative interviews/focus groups
- Desktop research
- Socialisation of outcomes
The findings of the study will be published in a report.
Target group: All members with an interest in wealth provision
Contact: Andrea Caloisi
Wealth management – C-suite working group
This C-suite working group brings together leaders from investment organisations to engage in high-level discussions on wealth industry trends and our latest findings. The goal is to foster collaboration and strategic insight-sharing, helping to better understand the future of wealth management through collective expertise.
The working group will include:
- Pre-reading, reviewing and other supplementary materials
- Pre-polling and surveys
Target group: Senior leaders of members interested in wealth management
Time commitment: 4x 90-min working group calls, plus time for pre-reading and polling
Contact: Roger Urwin
Discussion forums
This year, we are introducing virtual discussion forums, opportunities for members to connect and engage on key topics that are important to the investment industry and their organisations. Hosted and moderated by us, these sessions will feature open questions such as:
- Is diversification pointless?
- How do you manage risk in an increasingly short-term word?
- What are the risks and opportunities of AI?
We will also be sharing case studies from projects that TAI conducted. Please see the projects section at the end of the page for more details.
Target group: All members
Time commitment: 4 x 1.5 hours MS Teams calls (two time zones each forum)
Contact: Tim Hodgson
Related paper:
System research
Systems thinking encourages us to view problems as parts of an overall system, rather than isolated events. By understanding the relationships and patterns within systems, we can identify leverage points for change, predict potential outcomes, and create sustainable solutions that address not just the symptoms, but the underlying causes. We are continuing our research as an internally-run stream, focusing on building organisational robustness and resilience in an increasing complex and dynamic environment shaped by evolving political, economic and social tensions. We are also responding to several key questions we have been posed, all of which are likely to benefit from a systems treatment.
- Has the correlation between equities and bonds fundamentally changed?
- Are private assets attractive for the next 10 years?
- Might there be a relationship between the changing structure of pension provision and the vibrancy of the economy?
If any of these questions interest you and you would like to be involved as a co-creator we would love to hear from you.
Target group: No target group – but happy to hear from any interested member
Contact: Tim Hodgson
Related sources:
Projects with TAI
Over the past years, TAI has collaborated with various organisations to help them optimise their organisational alpha, driving better portfolio outcomes and enhancing value creation.
TAI has engaged on a range of investment and human-capital-related topics, producing a number of toolkits that can be tailored and applied to member contexts through projects. Below are some examples of our work:
Please contact us if you are interested.
Related resources:
Related pages
2025 events
2024 research agenda
Research index
Make the most of your membership:
Projects
Training