Nominees for the BRISMES Committee on Academic Freedom (2025-2028)

Arash Beidollahkhani

Arash Beidollahkhani is a political scientist and interdisciplinary scholar specialising in the political sociology of authoritarian governance, social media mobilisation, and international relations, with a focus on the Middle East. He holds a dual PhD in Political Science and Human Rights from the University of Tehran and the University of Deusto (Spain), awarded through the Erasmus Mundus programme. He has completed postdoctoral research in Taiwan and held research fellowships in South Korea and China. Arash has taught and conducted research in six countries, including Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan and Iran. He is currently a Research Fellow at the University of Manchester and an Affiliated Fellow at the Hannah Arendt Institute for Totalitarianism Studies. Having both personally experienced — at significant personal cost, including dismissal from his permanent position as an assistant professor — and critically examined restrictions on academic freedom, not only in his home country but also across various non-democratic contexts in the Middle East and Central Asia where he has taught and conducted research, he brings substantial regional expertise on the Middle East and Persian Gulf countries, along with a strong personal and professional commitment to the global defense of academic freedom. He is fluent in Persian and has working knowledge of Arabic and Turkish