Sohail Inayatullah is a Pakistani-born Australian academic,

futures studies Futures studies, futures research, futurism or futurology is the systematic, interdisciplinary and holistic study of social and technological advancement, and other environmental trends, often for the purpose of exploring how people will l ...

researcher and a professor at the Graduate Institute of Futures Studies at Tamkang University in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

Biography

Born in 1958 in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th List of largest cities, most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is th ...

, Pakistan, to a father who worked as a researcher for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

and a

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...

mother, he grew up in numerous countries including the United States, Switzerland and Malaysia. His main influences include James Dator, Johan Galtung, William Irwin Thompson and in particular

P. R. Sarkar Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar (21 May 1921 – 21 October 1990), also known by his spiritual name Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti (Ánanda Múrti="Bliss Embodiment"), and known as Bábá ("Father") to his disciples, was a spiritual Guru, philosopher, so ...

Academic contributions

Inayatullah is most famous for introducing and pioneering the futures technique of causal layered analysis, that uses a four-layered approach to bring about transformative change. He introduced the idea in a widely cited paper for ''Futures''. He also edited and wrote the introductory chapter for the Causal Layered Analysis (CLA) Reader. He has described the idea for a popular audience in an article for ''The Futurist'' and a

TEDx TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sa ...

talk. Inayatullah's work on CLA was examined in a book by Jose W. Ramos in 2003. He also invented the method the Futures Triangle and with the Integrated Scenario Method and with Ivana Milojevic, the Change Progression Scenario Method.

Academic positions

In addition to his role at Tamkang University, Inayatullah is the UNESCO Chair in Futures Studies at the Sejahtera Centre for Sustainability and Humanity, IIUM, Malaysia From 2016 to 2021, he was the UNESCO Chair in Futures Studies at USIM, Malaysia. He was also an adjunct professor at the Centre for Policing, Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism,

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a public research university based in Sydney, Australia, in the suburb of Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of ...

, Sydney, from 2011 to 2014 and adjunct professor at the

University of the Sunshine Coast The University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC) is a public university based on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. After opening with 524 students in 1996 as the Sunshine Coast University College, it was later renamed the University of the ...

(Faculty of Social Sciences and the Arts) from 2001 to 2020.

Role in journals and web publications

Inayatullah is co-editor (along with Jian-Bang Deng) of the ''

Journal of Futures Studies The ''Journal of Futures Studies'' (JFS) is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal in the discipline of futures studies. It is published by Tamkang University Press on behalf of the Graduate Institute of Futures Studies at Tamkang University ...

'', one of the top journals in

. He is also associated editor of ''New Renaissance'' and is on the editorial boards of '' Futures'', Journal of Foresight and Thought Leadership, World Futures, Futures and Foresight Science, World Futures Review and ''foresight'' Inayatullah is also the co-founder of educational think tank Metafuture.org along with Dr. Ivana Milojević.

Other affiliations

Inayatullah is a member of the World Future Society and has a blog there. He is also a Fellow of the World Futures Studies Federation. He has also voiced his support for the

Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed *Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme * Bl ...

, an organisation which campaigns for democratic reform in the United Nations.

References

External links

Metafuture: Futures Studies
by Sohail Inayatullah and Ivana Milojević
Futures Studies: Theories and Methods

Sohail Inayatullah's blog
World Future Society (archived in 2016) {{DEFAULTSORT:Inayatullah, Sohail Futurologists Pakistani emigrants to Australia People from Lahore Punjabi people Australian people of Punjabi descent University of the Sunshine Coast faculty Macquarie University faculty Tamkang University faculty Australian expatriates in Taiwan Living people Australian academics of Pakistani descent 1958 births