Though I see myself as a topic rather than an [geographic] area expert, I happened — due to a series of fortuitous coincidences — to conduct research and policy analyses in Europe, in the former Soviet Union, and in Mongolia. Since 2020, as a result of my involvement in the IDRC/GPE-funded KIX Initiative (Knowledge and Innovation Exchange), I also closely follow education reforms in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, Mongolia, the Middle East and Northern  Africa,  South and Southeast Asia, and the Pacific region. 

 

Iranian by birth, Swiss by upbringing, and US citizen by naturalization, I speak and write English, German, and French; I also speak colloquial Farsi.