Professor of Middle East & Central Asian Politics, Deputy Director (International), Alfred Deakin Research Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University
Shahram Akbarzadeh is Research Professor of Middle East & Central Asian Politics and Convenor of Middle East Studies Forum (MESF) at Deakin University.
He has an active research interest in the politics of Central Asia, Islam, Muslims in Australia and the Middle East.He has been involved in organising a number of key conferences, including a Chatham House rule workshop on Australia's relations with Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan (2007), sponsored by the International Centre of Excellence for Asia Pacific Studies, and a conference on the Arab Revolution with Freedom House, sponsored by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
In 2000 Professor Akbarzadeh was the Middle East Studies conference co-convener and served as the Central and West Asia Councillor for the Asian Studies Association of Australia (1999-2004). He has promoted Asian studies through contacts with industry and the academia by research and publication. He guest edited a special issue of Asian Studies Review on the Middle East (Vol.25, No.2, 2001) and a special issue of the Journal of Arabic, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies on Globalization (Vol. 5, No.2, 2000).
He has published more than 40 refereed papers. Among his latest publications are a sole-authored book on Uzbekistan and the United States, a co-authored book on US Foreign Policy in the Middle East, and a co-authored book on Muslim Active Citizenship in the West.
Professor Akbarzadeh is the founding Editor of the Islamic Studies Series, published by Melbourne University Press, and a regular public commentator. He has produced key reports for the Australian Research Council (ARC) on Australian based scholarship on Islam, and also for the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) on Muslim Voices and Mapping Employment and Education; and has produced a report on Islam in the Australian media. He acted as Convenor of the Islam Node for the ARC Asia Pacific Futures Research Network.
He is a member of the Editorial Board of four leading refereed journals: Global Change, Peace & Security, the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, the Journal of Asian Security & International Affairs, and Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs; and an International Advisory Board member of the World Journal of Islamic History and Civilization.
Is Iran’s anti-Israel and American rhetoric all bark and no bite?
Sep 03, 2024 00:31 am UTC| Insights & Views
On August 27, Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, told the newly elected president, Masoud Pezeshkian, and his cabinet that talking to the enemy may be useful. In a thinly veiled reference...
Iran is gaining credibility in the Muslim world and feeling emboldened
May 08, 2024 11:06 am UTC| Insights & Views
Irans leadership has been a direct beneficiary of the months-long war in Gaza. With every missile that Israel fires on Gaza, every US veto of a UN Security Council ceasefire resolution, and every arrest of an anti-war...
Despite its inflammatory rhetoric, Iran is unlikely to attack Israel. Here's why
Oct 27, 2023 14:54 pm UTC| Insights & Views
Iran has warned Israel of severe consequences from multiple fronts if it does not halt its relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip. This warning is widely interpreted as a declaration of intent for Iran to enter the...
Jan 07, 2020 15:31 pm UTC| Insights & Views
US President Donald Trump has not held back on threatening Iran after the targeted killing of General Qassem Soleimani, a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s and a key player in expanding Irans links with armed...
Hassan Rouhani's economic legacy may be his key to winning a second term
May 19, 2017 05:47 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy Politics
Todays presidential election in Iran had turned into a vote of confidence for President Hassan Rouhanis four years in office. Irans economic recovery and reintegration into the global economy have become key electoral...