Systems Scientist, Keynote Speaker, and Architect of Agentic Alignment & AGI Governance
Dr. Anneloes Smitsman (Ph.D., LLM)
About Anneloes
Dr. Anneloes Smitsman (Ph.D., LL.M.) is a futurist, systems scientist, entrepreneur, bestselling author, and internationally recognised thought leader whose work focuses on one of the defining challenges of the 21st century: how human, collective, and artificial intelligence can evolve together in ways that strengthen the long-term flourishing of people, society, and our planet.
Over the past twenty years, she has founded and led multiple purpose-driven ventures, research initiatives, educational platforms, and innovation ecosystems dedicated to advancing systemic transformation, governance innovation, regenerative economies, and human potential. Her work combines scientific research, entrepreneurship, constitutional design, and emerging technologies to develop practical frameworks for navigating the transition to increasingly autonomous and intelligent systems.
She is the Founder and CEO of the EARTHwise Ecosystem, a multidisciplinary platform that brings together an AI Lab, Game Studio, Publishing House, Education Platform, Think Tank, and Collaboratory. She also serves as Chief Strategy Officer of Samara, Europe's Smart Sovereign AI Factory, where she contributes to the development of AI infrastructure and governance tools for human-agentic enterprises and next-generation intelligence architectures. Through these roles, she leads initiatives at the intersection of agentic AI, collective intelligence, governance innovation, and enterprise transformation.
Anneloes is the architect of the EARTHwise AI Arena and creator of the EARTHwise Alignment Benchmark (EAB) and the Elowyn: Quest of Time strategy game. The EAB framework and the Elowyn game simulator are designed to measure and improve how intelligent agents act under conditions of uncertainty, competition, interdependence, and long-term consequences. Building on principles first developed through her work on constitutional governance and collective intelligence, the EAB provides a practical methodology for evaluating whether intelligent systems translate reasoning into behaviours that support long-term system health and collective flourishing.
Her current work focuses on advancing human-agentic enterprises and developing AGI prototypes that translate constitutional principles into measurable behavioural architectures, alignment protocols, and real-world deployment for increasingly capable AI systems.
She is also the lead architect of the AGI Constitution framework, which pioneers a participatory commons-based approach to the governance of general intelligence, and the EARTHwise Constitution for a Planetary Civilization. Her work explores how constitutional principles can become embedded within the architecture, training, supervision, and governance of intelligent systems.
Anneloes holds a Master's degree in Law and Judicial Political Sciences from Leiden University and a Ph.D. in systemic transformation from the Maastricht Sustainability Institute at Maastricht University, the Netherlands. Her doctoral dissertation, Into the Heart of Systems Change, has informed transformation initiatives across governance, economics, education, leadership development, and societal innovation worldwide.
She is the co-author, together with Dr. Jean Houston, of the award-winning Future Humans Trilogy, including the Nautilus Award-winning books The Quest of Rose and Return of the Avatars. She is also the author of Love Letters from Mother Earth, co-editor and co-author of The New Paradigm in Politics, and has published numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, constitutional frameworks, and reports on systems change, governance, sustainability, collective intelligence, and the future evolution of humanity.
Throughout her career, Anneloes has led and advised major transformation initiatives spanning education, governance, sustainability, leadership, constitutional design, and institutional innovation. Her work has included the r3.0 Educational Transformation Blueprint, global dialogues supporting Small Island Developing States in contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, UNESCO youth leadership initiatives, sustainability leadership programmes, and executive development programmes for public and private sector organisations.
Her contributions have been recognised through numerous international awards, including the Visioneers Lifetime Achievement Award, the BIZZ Business Excellence Award, Africa's Most Respected CEO Award for Human Development, and recognition among the 2025 Leading Women to Watch™.
She serves on several international advisory boards and initiatives, including the Global Development Board of the Laszlo Institute of New Paradigm Research, co-founding Member of Living Cities Earth, an Advisory Board member of Servamind, r3.0 Advocation Partner, and a member of the Evolutionary Leaders Circle of the Source of Synergy Foundation.
A globally sought-after keynote speaker, Anneloes is known for her ability to connect the dots between emerging technologies, societal transformation, governance, human development, and the future evolution of intelligence. Her presentations help audiences make sense of complexity, recognise opportunities hidden within disruption, and develop a deeper understanding of the forces shaping our world.
Whether addressing executives, policymakers, researchers, entrepreneurs, educators, or global change-makers, her inspirational talks are recognised for catalysing new perspectives and a renewed commitment to building a more thrivable future for all, combining systems thinking with visionary storytelling. Contact her speaking agency to book her for a keynote.
International Awards
Featured on
Stay in touch
Sign-up below to stay in touch with me and receive our EARTHwise newsletter with inspirational stories, offerings, and resources.
We respect your privacy and won't send spam. You can unsubscribe any time.
Publications & Creations by Anneloes
Elowyn: Quest of Time
Master strategy, decode deception, and explore multiple paths to victory in this lore-rich digital card strategy game. Elowyn rewards clever synergies, creative combos, and mastery of time and deception over brute force. Direct Hero combat damages the Elowyn Tree of Life — if it dies, everyone loses. The greatest victories come from healing the Tree and playing for win-win outcomes. All net proceeds of the Elowyn Rainforest pack purchase are donated to Nature regeneration projects. Proud finalist of the 2025 Best Small Studio Award of the Green Game Jam by the UNEP-backed Playing for the Planet Alliance. The only game that also trains AI Agents in win-win logic!
Currently in Beta development for public Beta release Q2 2026. The game lore builds on the stories and characters of the Future Humans Trilogy, The Elowyn community is growing rapidly, with over 68,000 players having joined already.
The Quest of Rose is Book 1 of the Future Humans Trilogy written by Anneloes Smitsman and Jean Houston and is a Silver Winner of the 2022 Nautilus Book Awards in the category of Personal Growth, and became a #1 Amazon Bestseller in several categories. Available as paperback, ebook, and audiobook. Also available in German as Die Reise der Rose, translated by Dagmar Wolff.
The Quest of Rose is an experiential transformation journey that weaves together real-life events that are at the forefront of what's happening in our world right now, with cutting-edge insights from new paradigm sciences and indigenous wisdom. Referred to by many as: "a masterpiece" and "one of the most important books of our catalytic time". The book offers nine Cosmic Keys and twelve transformation practices.
Return of the Avatars is Book 2 of the Future Humans Trilogy written by Anneloes Smitsman, and Jean Houston, and is a Gold Winner of the 2023 Nautilus Book Awards which became a #1 Amazon Bestseller in several categories. Available as paperback, ebook, and audiobook.
New dangers lurk around the corner, attracted to Rose's growing powers. A spell-breaking, soul-stirring adventure to explore essential lessons about power, unity, ego, shadow, hope, courage, and love. You’ll now discover how to decode the systems and agendas of the economics of domination and the governance of disunity. Develop your future human powers with the help of seven Cosmic Architect Tools and ten transformative practices.
Anneoes is the lead author of the Participatory Framework for co-creating an AGI Constitution, which is initiated by EARTHwise Centre in collaboration with SingularityNET, AQAL Foundation, and others to co-steward AGI as a global Commons. Today, at this pivotal tipping point time, we offer this participatory framework for guiding the creation of an eventual global AGI Constitution. This document is intended to serve as a living compass for charting an unprecedented course toward a thrivable future, so we may steward the transformative power of Artificial Intelligence as a global commons. This is an evolving and open document, where you can share your ideas for what may soon become the most important governance priority of our time.
The EARTHwise Constitution for a Planetary Civilization is one of our most ambitious collaborative initiatives for addressing the root causes of the sustainability crisis. Architected and initiated by Anneloes, the Constitution serves as an open-source Compass and social-contract for co-creating thrivable worlds and futures with the wisdom and evolutionary capacities of living systems. Supporting us in becoming the future humans of an emerging planetary civilization, as our collective pledge for healing our divided worlds and regenerating our Earth. Endorsed and supported by the EARTHwise Partnership Alliance for a planetary civilization with 40+ organizations and movements (growing rapidly).
Love Letters from Mother Earth - The Promise of a New Beginning by Anneloes Smitsman, became an Amazon Bestseller in 2018. It includes thirteen letters in the voice of Mother Earth to guide us into the heart of our humanity and remember the essence of who we truly are. Providing essential wisdom and support that our planet, as a caring and conscious Mother, shares for this challenging time. Supporting you to discover three keys of wisdom for actualizing our unity and transforming the root causes of thousands of years of division.
Messages from Mother Earth is based on the book, Love Letters from Mother Earth, and provides a unique audio experience for entering into unity with the consciousness of Mother Earth. Each Message carries you to the beauty and wisdom of life within you, carried by the voice of Mother Earth. Coming home to who you are beyond this time and place. Remembering life from wholeness and discovering the seed codes for a New Beginning. Created and spoken by Anneloes Smitsman with music composed and produced by Alan Howarth. The music is tuned to an A note of 424 cycles (Hz), which is the natural resonance of the heart.
The r3.0 Educational Transformation Blueprint for which Dr. Anneloes Smitsman served as the lead author, provides 7 Transformative Learning Perspectives for Regeneration and Thrivability. The seven interconnected Learning Perspectives form the foundation for the inner and outer shifts towards regeneration and thrivability. Each Learning Perspective is explored through a three-fold structure that offers various dimensions of each theme. The full Blueprint is summarized through a list of recommendations.
Into the Heart of Systems Change
Into the Heart of Systems Change, is the Ph.D. dissertation of Dr. Anneloes Smitsman, and presents her research as an external researcher at the Maastricht Sustainability Institute (formerly ICIS), Maastricht University, the Netherlands, from September 2014 to August 2019.
The dissertation offers a diagnostic integral framework for addressing key systemic barriers of mechanistic systems and growth models, which are at the root of our worsening sustainability crisis. The dissertation includes a Transition Plan for a Thrivable Civilization through 7 steps.
A life-centric qualitative growth model is offered with 5 Future Archetypes through a narrative of thrivability, instead of mere sustainability. Various methods are combined into an integral approach for systemic transformation, weaving together indigenous wisdom, new paradigm cosmology, informational sciences, quantum physics, evolutionary biology, and complexity sciences - grounded in the praxis of inner and outer systems change.
Transition Plan for a Thrivable Civilization
This article provides a summary of Into the Heart of Systems Change, and its proposed Transition Plan for a Thrivable Civilization that can be summarized in 7 steps:
- Diagnose and make visible the presence and impact of systemic thrivability barriers that result from mechanistic systems, models, and growth archetypes.
- Address and transform the systemic thrivability barriers through transformation strategies that address the dualistically polarising dynamics of mechanistic systems.
- Develop future creative capacities through evolutionary learning processes that are embedded within evolutionary learning communities and evolutionary learning ecosystems.
- Apply evolutionary archetypes for our societal and human development, like the 5 Future Archetypes that feature in the EARTHwise Constitution and are applied in the role functions of the EARTHwise Collaboratory and the Hypha DAO, as well as the character design of the Eloywn: Quest of Time game.
- Develop regenerative, inclusive, and distributive economies that are designed as evolutionary living systems.
- Develop governance systems and institutional design for the future that enables the transition to a thrivable civilization, by empowering people with the means and opportunities for stewarding our future wellbeing together.
- Work with the transformative potentials of social tipping points dynamics for the required societal transformations and grassroots engagement.
Book Chapters
Peer-reviewed Journals
Other Publications
Endorsements for Anneloes & her work
Jean Houston, Ph.D.
Principal founder of the Human Potential Movement
"Anneloes Smitsman is a leader and pioneer in the development of the architecture of creating civilizations that enhance the wellbeing of both person and planet. In this she is a treasure trove of ingenuity and wisdom. She is one whom leaders in social evolution regard as the person who has the genius to implement the revolutionary solutions and visions that can advance the necessary development of both people and planet. I, as well as many others, regard Anneloes as a female Einstein. I met prof Einstein when I was 8 years old, and he told me that his greatest quality was imagination, a quality which Anneloes shares abundantly and which informs her extraordinary creative gifts. She is a living example of what it means to walk the path of the emerging future human.
Knowing her very well and having worked with her in the development of our books and courses, I can honestly say that she is one of the brightest minds I have ever met. She is a true renaissance woman who brings her unique gifts to the kinds of design and implementation that have the power to shift the negative trajectories of our present world, and thus she creates the designs and solutions that introduce a whole new architecture that inspires while it implements the creation of the promise and dream of a thriving world. Anneloes brings together the tools and the practical knowledge to accomplish this evolutionary task.”
Lynne McTaggart
World-Renowned Pioneer in the New Science of Consciousness
“Dr. Anneloes Smitsman’s original research has relentlessly delved into revolutionary ideas and brought radical new scientific truths to light. And her background as a creative force of systemic transformation in education, economics, governance, and ecology has resulted from a marriage between her scientific originality and her extensive experience in the spiritual and mystical realms. The Future Humans Trilogy is a work of profound hope during these tumultuous times, by offering a powerful new definition of ourselves and a vision of unlimited future possibility."
Bruce Lipton, Ph.D.
World-Renowned Pioneer Evolutionary Biology
“To survive through evolutionary chaos, we must first recover our creative powers. In Return of the Avatars, book 2 of the Future Humans Trilogy, distinguished visionaries Anneloes Smitsman and Jean Houston offer vital tools for accessing, activating, and empowering innate creative consciousness. Return of the Avatars is a profoundly important science-based guide for future humans to become Cosmic architects of a sustainable and thrivable world. I highly recommend this readable book as a valuable and empowering contribution in nurturing our evolving civilization.”
Jude Currivan, Ph.D.
Cosmologist, Futurist & Author of The Cosmic Hologram
"Through her writing and teaching, Anneloes’s authenticity and wisdom radiate with a crystal clarity and resonate with compassionate grace. Gently she guides readers and students through journeys of inner and outer discovery, inspiring and empowering them to re-member their own true selves and sense of purpose. As a teacher, guide and companion, she is a loving and hopeful gift of Spirit to the world."
Ervin Laszlo, Ph.D.
Scientist, Noble Peace Prize Nominee
"We live in the most crucial epoch in the recent history of humanity. We need to rethink where we are going, and change the way we go. We need to BE the change we want to see in the world. This calls for leadership — leading ourselves to be the change we need. This is perhaps the most vital quest of our time. Joining the leadership programs of Dr. Anneloes Smitsman could be one of the most effective steps you could now take."
Lawrence Bloom
Former Secretary General, Be Earth Foundation
“In my blessed life’s journey I have had the true privilege of meeting some extraordinary and remarkable souls. Anneloes Smitsman is up there with the best of the very best. From vision to strategy, from strategy to tactics, from tactics to operations, she is a profound and very rare master. I recommend her unhesitatingly, and celebrate our personal friendship and her gift of mentorship to me.”
