Education:                 

 

                                   M.A. Status (Honorary), University of Oxford

                                   Ph.D. Social Anthropology, Sorbonne, Paris

                                   M.A. Social Anthropology, Sorbonne, Paris

                                   B.A. Social Sciences, Tehran University

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Career Summary:

 

1998 -2010                 Founding Director, Fertility and Reproduction Studies Group, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, 

                                   University of Oxford.

1994 -1996                 Director, International Gender Studies,

                                   Department of International Development Studies,

                                   Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford

1984 -1994                 Research Associate and Development Officer, International Gender Studies, Queen Elizabeth House, 

                                   University of Oxford

1983 - 2010                Co-Founding Director and Chairman, Social Analysis and

                                   Anthropology Associates - SA3 Ltd, a consultancy firm

                                   specialising in the application of anthropology to development

                                   projects.

1973 -1983                 Independent researcher, University of Oxford, and consultant, international aid agencies.

1968 -1970                 Director, Ethnographic Museum of Tehran

1968 -1970                 Senior Consultant, Council for Culture and Arts, Ministry of Culture and Arts, Iran

1968 -1970                 Lecturer in Social Anthropology, University of Tehran and the National University () of Tehran.

 

 

Theoretical Areas of Specialisation:

 

Anthropology of Reproduction, Gender, Development, Applied Anthropology

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Additional Professional Experience:

 

Since 2003 I have acted as expert witness in courts for Iranian asylum seekers in the UK. The cases cover a wide range of issues related to the social and cultural aspects behind seeking asylum.

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Professional and Academic Associations:

 

1990 - present            Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute

1998 - present            Research Associate, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford

2006 - 2014                Member of the Finance Committee, Royal Anthropological Institute (RAI)

2003 - 2006                Council Member, (RAI)

1998 - 2001                Vice-President, RAI, and Chair of the Special Projects Committee

1995 - 1998                Council Member, RAI

2000 - present            Senior Common Room Member, St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford. Founding convener of a seminar

                                   series on Women’s Rights in the Middle East, The Middle East Centre, St. Antony’s College, University of

                                   Oxford.

2004                           Honorary Life Member of the Association of Social Anthropologists of Great Britain (ASA)

2009 - present            Scientific Member of the Commission for the Anthropology of the Middle East, International Union of

                                   Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES).

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Editorial Appointments:

 

Founding Series Editor, Fertility, Reproduction and Sexuality Series, Berghahn Books  

 

Member of the Editorial Board, Journal of the International Society for Iranian Studies (ISIS), Routledge, UK.

 

Member of the Academic Committee and the Editorial Board of the Journal of the Anthropology of the Middle East, Berghahn Books

 

Academic Adviser and Board Member of Farhang va Ensan (Culture and Human Beings), an anthropological journal published in Farsi language, Iran.

 

Editorial Board Member of the English language publication of the Welfare Journal, published by the Welfare University, Tehran, Iran.

 

Editorial Board Member of the English Language Journal of Avicenna Journal of Medical Biotechnology (AJMB), published by Avicenna Research Institute, Iran.