What is Iranian studies?

“‘Iranian studies’ relates to research and teaching on Iran and the wider Persianate world, including but not limited to the Near and Middle East, South and Central Asia, the Caucasus and Persian Gulf region, from prehistory and ancient times to the present, in all the disciplines of SHAPE. That’s anthropology, history, culture, international relations, languages, religion and everything in between.”
— Ali M Ansari, Professor of Iranian History

General FAQs

  • What is Symposia Iranica?

    Symposia Iranica is a network for early career researchers working in any discipline of Iranian studies across SHAPE.

    Our family of initiatives include:

    • biennial conferences for early career researchers in Iranian studies

    • and more to come!

  • What about Climate Change?

    We have offset our unavoidable annual emissions by a rate of more than 8x our assessment starting AY 2021/22 through projects offered by Gold Standard’s Climate+ Portfolio and Carbon Neutral Britain; and we’ll be implementing changes to our events too.

  • What is SHAPE?

    SHAPE is a new collective name for the social sciences, humanities and the arts.

    For a full listing of the disciplines covered under SHAPE, see Biennials; or you can learn more about this initiative at the British Academy’s SHAPE Observatory.

  • Who designed the 'Iran' graphic?

    Reza Abedini, sometimes known as the father of Iranian contemporary graphic design. It was originally commissioned by Sussan Babaie and designed for Iran Heritage Foundation’s partnership with the Association of Iranian Studies on its conference in Istanbul, 2012.

  • What learned societies exist in Iranian studies?

 

Why study Iranian studies?

 

Iran and the Persianate world represents one of the great civilisations of the world with a literary tradition that is second to none. From the ancient period to the present an understanding of Iran and the wider Persianate world is essential for an appreciation of the wider flows of world history, the development of European civilisation and current relations between Iran, the region, and the West. An appreciation of Iranian history and historiography provides essential context and perspective to our broader understanding of global developments.

Conference FAQs

 

  • The call for papers is open to:

    • postgraduate students (master's and doctoral students at any stage of their degree),

    • postgraduates within a year of conferment, and

    • and post-docs within three years of graduation.

    If you are not a presenter, admission to the conference is limited and by application only.

  • We define early career researchers (also called early career scholars, early-stage scholars/researchers, and emerging scholars/researchers) as students and scholars who are at the postgraduate level and up to 3 years post-PhD.

    Specifically, our conferences are open to:

    • postgraduate students (master's and doctoral students at any stage of their degree),

    • postgraduates within a year of conferment,

    • and post-docs within three years of graduation.

  • Our very popular plenary! Symposia Iranica's Early Career Scholars’ Q&A is an opportunity for participants to gain a greater awareness of the opportunities available for career progression and a clearer idea of their own personal career pathway.

    This Q&A-format session addresses questions on the key skills, experience, and personal qualities vital to a successful career in academia: our panellists provide an overview of what recruiters are looking for in candidates; give an insight into the types of academic publications available and the processes involved in getting material published; and tackle the question of academic leadership before questions are taken.

  • We accept individual paper and panel proposals. Abstracts should explain the paper’s original contribution in sufficient depth with some indication of its conclusions. Panel proposals should include a rationale for bringing the individual papers together as a panel and a brief description of how each paper fits into the theme of the panel.

  • The abstract is the sole basis for judging a proposal. All abstracts undergo double-blind peer review by three or more mid-career and senior academics in every discipline. An average of 40% of proposals passed peer review.

  • In double-blind peer review, the identities of the reviewer and the applicant are concealed from the other.

  • Double-blind peer review limits opportunities for bias(es) for or against a proposal's author and neatly sidesteps any academic politics. Additionally, reviewers cannot be influenced by personal or professional characteristics, such as gender, geography or institution.

  • We do not set quotas nor operate positive discrimination or a selection policy of any kind other than rigorous peer review. Our commitment has always been and continues to be to offer a place to any eligible applicant whose proposal passes peer review.