Meet Furat

Abdullah Al Araf Furat is a Bangladeshi student, citizen scientist, open-knowledge contributor, volunteer, and community organizer with interests in science, astronomy, technology, education, languages, and Islamic studies. He is particularly interested in connecting traditional knowledge and values with contemporary education, scientific inquiry, and global knowledge-sharing communities.

Furat is pursuing education simultaneously through three educational streams: general education, Alia Madrasa education, and Qawmi Madrasa education under the Madani Nesab. This combined educational path allows him to engage with contemporary academic subjects alongside Islamic studies and traditional scholarship. He has a particular interest in Arabic literature and Islamic intellectual traditions while continuing his broader academic and scientific learning.

As a Hafiz of the Qur'an, Furat has memorized the entire Qur'an. Alongside his formal studies, he has developed an interest in languages and intercultural communication and has studied or is learning Bengali, English, Arabic, Hindi, Urdu, Japanese, Indonesian, and Persian.

Furat is the founder of Citizen Science Bangladesh, a nonprofit community initiative focused on making citizen science more accessible in Bangladesh. He works on developing the community, preparing educational resources, organizing outreach activities, managing digital platforms, and encouraging students, educators, researchers, and science enthusiasts to participate in scientific research.

His involvement in citizen science spans several international research communities. He participates in projects through Zooniverse and SciStarter, contributing to community-based research activities such as data classification, image analysis, transcription, and scientific observations. Through the Galaxy Cruise project of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, he participates in galaxy classification and astronomical image analysis. He also takes part in NASA Citizen Science projects, contributing observations and analysis to research activities related to Earth and space.

Astronomy and space science are among his principal areas of interest. His activities include participation in astronomy-focused citizen science and STEM outreach initiatives. He has also contributed to biodiversity research through iNaturalist, documenting and identifying species and contributing observations to a global biodiversity research community.

Furat is active in the Wikimedia and open-knowledge movement. He contributes to Bengali and English Wikipedia through article creation, editing, research, fact-checking, and improvement of educational, cultural, and Islamic content. He is also involved with the Bangla Wikipedia Orientation Committee, where he helps introduce and guide new contributors. In addition, he contributes to Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata, supporting freely licensed media and structured open data.

He has also contributed to the open-source and digital knowledge ecosystem. As a volunteer documentation writer for VideoLAN, he works on improving user-oriented documentation for VLC Media Player. He has contributed as a translator to The Tor Project and as a volunteer translator and reviewer for Kiva, helping make information accessible across language communities.

His volunteer activities also include participation in the United Nations Online Volunteer programme, digital archival contribution to the Smithsonian Institution, and online volunteering with Amnesty International. He is a member of the Dhaka Wikimedia Community and has participated in other community-oriented digital initiatives.

In youth leadership and entrepreneurship, Furat has been involved with the Blue Ocean Student Entrepreneur Competition, where he has served as both a student ambassador and mentor. His activities include supporting young participants, encouraging innovation, facilitating outreach, and helping develop leadership and communication skills among students. He has also participated in International Model United Nations through campus outreach and social media-related activities, and has been involved in STEM and space-science outreach through the Grand Universe ambassador programme.

Furat's interests extend across astronomy, artificial intelligence, citizen science, open knowledge, technology, education, environmental awareness, languages, and Islamic studies. Through his education, scientific participation, volunteer work, and community initiatives, he seeks to promote accessible knowledge, public participation in science, intercultural understanding, and collaboration among learners and communities.