Symposia Iranica

Symposia Iranica is dedicated to supporting the next generation of academic talent in Iranian studies. We welcome postgraduate students and recent postdocs working on any period, geographical location or methodology across the arts, humanities and social sciences. Specifically, we create opportunities for personal and professional development and facilitate dialogue and exchange to catalyse new relationships, provide a supportive peer context, encourage interdisciplinary engagement, and foster international collaboration and mobility to sow the seeds of early academic success.In order to achieve this, we offer a wide range of services to facilitate excellence in pedagogy and scholarship through events, initiatives, fellowships, training, prizes and publications.

Since we started in 2012, we have worked hard to bring our vision to reality. In collaboration with multiple sponsors, partners, and a supporting cast of mid-career and senior scholars, in the intervening years we have held four conferences that together have gathered a global community of more than 400 emerging scholars from a pool of over 1,600 applicants.

The inaugural Symposia Iranica was hosted by the University of St Andrews in 2013; our second conference was hosted by the University of Cambridge at Downing College; the Third jointly by Pembroke College and the University of Cambridge; and the fourth returned to the University of St Andrews. In all four events, we hosted upwards of 25 senior and mid-career academic invitees who played a supporting role focused on enriching the academic development and engagement possibilities of our early career participants. The contribution of established academics is also crucial to the success of our Early Career Scholars Q&A, which has proven a firm conference favourite. The Q&A is an opportunity for participants to gain a greater awareness of the opportunities available for career progression and a clearer idea of their own personal career pathway. It addresses questions on the key skills, experience and personal qualities vital to a successful career in academia. Panelists provide an overview of what recruiters are looking for in candidates, give an insight into the types of academic publications available and the processes involved in getting material published, and tackle the question of academic leadership before questions are taken from the floor.

We hope that you enjoy exploring our events, learning more about Symposia Iranica, and we look forward to welcoming you to one of our programmes in the future. For further details, visit us at: https://symposia-iranica.com/