Richard A. Slaughter is founding director of the Australian Foresight Institute at Swinburne University (Melbourne) and a consulting futurist who has worked with a wide range of organisations in many countries and at all educational levels. He completed a Ph.D. in futures studies at the University of Lancaster in 1982. He has since built an international reputation through futures scholarship, educational innovation, strategic foresight and the identification of a knowledge base for futures studies. He is a fellow of the World Futures Studies Federation (WFSF) and a professional member of the World Future Society (WFS). In 1997 he was elected to the executive council of the WFSF. In 2001 he was elected President. With Laurie Wheldon he is co-director of Foresight International (Brisbane).

He is a prolific writer and holds several editorial positions. These include: consulting editor to Futures (Oxford, UK), board member of the Journal of Futures Studies (Tamkang University, Taiwan), board member of On the Horizon and Foresight (Camford, Cambridge, UK) and series editor of The Knowledge Base of Futures Studies (FSC, Melbourne). He is co-author of Education for the 21st Century (Routledge, 1993), author of The Foresight Principle - Cultural Recovery in the 21st Century (Praeger 1995) editor of New Thinking for a New Millennium (Routledge 1996) and co-editor of the World Yearbook of Education 1998: Futures Education (Kogan Page, London 1998). He has also published a series of futures resource books. His latest books are an edited volume of essays: Futures for the Third Millennium: Enabling the Forward View (Prospect, Sydney, 1999) and a collection of papers by various authors from The ABN Report entitled: Gone Today, Here Tomorrow: Millennium Previews (Prospect, Sydney, 2000). Several of these publications have been revised and re-issued on a series of CD-ROMs, beginning with the Knowledge Base of Futures Studies vols 1-4, Millennium Edition (Foresight International 2001).

He has been a visiting scholar to organisations in many countries including: Mexico, Hungary, Greece, the UK, the USA, Japan and the Philippines. Professional activities include: conducting strategic planning exercises in Manila for the South East Asia Ministers of Education Organisation (SEAMEO), chairing the committee responsible for writing the syllabus for a new Year 11 & 12 Futures subject for the Board of Senior Secondary Studies, Brisbane, and consulting to the Future Generations Alliance Foundation of Kyoto, Japan.

His research interests include: the use of futures concepts and methods in education, business and government; the development of critical futures methodologies; the knowledge base of futures studies and the social implementation of foresight. He is currently developing a national foresight strategy for Australia. His main aim is to facilitate the emergence of a society and culture that is not merely driven by the past but also responsive to the emerging near-future context. The latter, he believes, is far more challenging than is commonly realised. However, there are many innovative paths out of the trap that humanity has collectively created for itself.

Contact information:

Prof. Richard A. Slaughter can be reached at the Australian Foresight Institute, SwinburneUniversity of Technology, John Street, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122, Australia.
Tel: 61+3 9214 5982  Fax: 61+3 9214 5985  Mob: 041 913 4900
Email: rslaughter@swin.edu.au Web site: aboutforesight.org