In this presentation we describe and motivate the work with 'personas' to train students in becoming reflective practitioners. The example is given from an assignment we have worked with at a program in Strategic urban and regional planning, where students should be prepared to imagine alternative futures, not the least when elaborating on sustainability transitions in society, and need to manage complex problems and motivate interventions; Thus, university teachers need to train students to develop such competencies and skills. Persona builds on design thinking and is sometimes used in a development project to imagining who planners plan for (users/citizens), and their different needs and perspectives. We discuss how this imaginative capacity is used alongside artificial intelligence tools. Our experience from teaching this assignment during several years is that it enhances collaborative learning (among students, and teachers – students). During the seminars where they get to read and comment on each others’ work, the persona becomes like an object to gather around (in distinction to a regular paper), enables discussions about fears, prejudices, public adminstration and professional life etc. The persona gives the students a possibility to reflect their own worries or expectations without exposing themselves.