astronomy

Sohail Inayatullah

Sohail Inayatullah is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Sohail Inayatullah rather than just read about it. In short: Sohail Inayatullah is a Pakistani-born Australian academic, futures studies researcher and a professor at the Graduate Institute of Futures Studies at Tamkang University in Taipei, Taiwan. Early life Born in 1958 in Lahore, Pakistan, to a father who worked as a researcher for the United Nations and a Sufi mother, he grew up in numerous countries including the United States, Switzerland and Malaysia.

Key takeaways

Sohail Inayatullah belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Sohail Inayatullah to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Sohail Inayatullah from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Sohail Inayatullah is a Pakistani-born Australian academic, futures studies researcher and a professor at the Graduate Institute of Futures Studies at Tamkang University in Taipei, Taiwan.

Early life Born in 1958 in Lahore, Pakistan, to a father who worked as a researcher for the United Nations and a Sufi 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.

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 talk. Inayatullah's work on CLA was examined in a book by Jose W. Ramos in 2003. He also invented the method known as, the Futures Triangle, the Integrated Scenario Method, and with Ivana Milojevic, the Change Progression Scenario Method. Inayatullah is ranked in the top two% of the worlds scientists based on citation impact

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, Sydney, from 2011 to 2014 and adjunct professor at the University of the Sunshine Coast (Faculty of Social Sciences and the Arts) from 2001 to 2020.

Role in journals and web publications Inayatullah is co-editor (along with Jose Ramos, Anisah Abdullah, and Kuo-Hua Chen) of the Journal of Futures Studies, one of the top journals in futures studies. He 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 blogs at the Journal of Futures Studies website. 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, 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)

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sohail Inayatullah

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sohail Inayatullah claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Sohail Inayatullah before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Sohail Inayatullah ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Sohail Inayatullah

In research: Sohail Inayatullah appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Sohail Inayatullah in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Sohail Inayatullah is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1958 births, Academic staff of Macquarie University, Academic staff of Tamkang University, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sohail Inayatullah outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Sohail Inayatullah in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Sohail Inayatullah means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Sohail Inayatullah out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sohail Inayatullah in simple terms?

Sohail Inayatullah is a Pakistani-born Australian academic, futures studies researcher and a professor at the Graduate Institute of Futures Studies at Tamkang University in Taipei, Taiwan. Early life Born in 1958 in Lahore, Pakistan, to a father who worked as a researcher for the United Nations and…

Why does Sohail Inayatullah matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Sohail Inayatullah?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Sohail Inayatullah.