I am a Senior Research Fellow with the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalization, Deakin University, Melbourne. I studied architecture (M.Arch.) at Tehran University, Iran and researched my PhD at the University of Western Australia. In the past I have practiced and taught as an architect and urban designer. My current research is focused on the use of the past for present purposes and politics of heritage, design of the built environment, cultural and national identity in relation to heritage, museums and the built environment. Geographically, my focus is on West Asia and specifically on Iran and the Caucasus. I have published papers and books in these areas and my work has been translated into Persian, a language in which I have native fluency.