Afshin Shahi

Dr Afshin Shahi is an Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer) in Middle East Politics and International Relations at Keele University. He earned his MA and PhD from the School of Government and International Affairs at Durham University. Before joining the School of Social, Political, and Global Studies at Keele University in 2023, he held positions at the universities of Durham, Exeter, and Bradford.

In 2018, he served as a Visiting Research Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence. His research interests include Iranian politics, the nexus of climate change and conflict, sectarianism, and political Islam in the Middle East. He has contributed articles to publications such as the Middle East Journal, the British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, and the Journal of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs.

Dr Shahi authored 'The Politics of Truth Management in Saudi Arabia' (Routledge, 2013) and is the co-author of an upcoming book titled 'Iran: the Shia State and the Sunni Minority'. He has served on numerous editorial boards and spent approximately four years as an Associate Editor for the British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. His opinion pieces have been featured in magazines including Forbes and Foreign Policy. Engaging with both practitioners and stakeholders in his field, he received the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Achievement at the University of Bradford in 2017.

Additionally, he has provided insights to international media outlets such as Al Jazeera, Washington Post, Bloomberg Business, the Telegraph, National Public Radio (US), NBC, ITV, Sky News, and the BBC.