Year: 2021

2021 Recipient of the Persia Mirzakhani Scholarship

An outstanding Ph.D. student at the Department of Oral Medicine at University College London, Dr. Niaz Shokri, has been awarded the prestigious 2021-2022 Persia Mirzakhani Scholarship for Women in STEM.

Dr. Shokri’s pioneering research focuses on “Development and Validation of a Specific Patient- Reported Outcome Measure for Osteoradionecrosis of the Jaws in Head and Neck Cancer Survivors”. Following her graduation from Tehran University as a Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS), she worked as a volunteer dentist to care for mentally challenged individuals. In 2018 she enrolled as an oral medicine student at UCL, and earned her graduate degree with distinction, earning a place on the Dean’s list. Her Ph.D. work addresses the need to develop tools that measure a patient’s response to therapy for the treatment of head/neck cancer with the objective to improve quality of life. A native of Sari in northern Iran, Dr. Shokri plans to use the Persia Mirzakhani scholarship to further her studies on osteoradionecrosis of jaws in cancer survivors.

Persia Educational Foundation established the Persia Mirzakhani Scholarship in remembrance of the first woman, an Iranian, to win the prestigious Fields Medal in mathematics, the late Stanford Professor, Dr. Maryam Mirzakhani. Each year, an independent panel selects the recipient of the Persia Mirzakhani Scholarship from among eligible applicants. The results are announced on 3 May, marking the anniversary of the birth of Professor Mirzakhani (3 May 1977 – 14 July 2017). The scholarship is designed to empower Iranian-descent women studying sciences, technology, engineering, or mathematics at UK’s top research university, UCL.

Persia Educational Foundation is a non-governmental UK-registered charity. Its mission is to provide scholarships and educational opportunities to Iranian descent students throughout the UK. To support more students, please contribute to Persia’s Scholarship Scheme. Please note that 100% of your donations plus the additional 25% Gift Aid are awarded to eligible students studying at UK universities. In this manner, for every Pound of your donation, £1.25 are donated to an Iranian descent student.

Accessing Peace: A Practical Approach to Meditation

Wednesday, 28 April 2021, at 17:00 GMT (UK time)

Lately, everyone has been craving more PEACE in their lives. And although there are more mindfulness resources available now than ever before, the plethora of options can feel overwhelming for beginners. Where do you start? 

Topics covered:

  • Meditation is a gym for your mind. It’s mind training.
  • There are no “types” of meditation. We’ll show your audience the mechanics of ALL meditation and take the mysticism out of it, so they stop feeling intimidated and start meditating.
  • The science of meditation is proven. Meditation changes the body and up-regulates our cellular structures in the brain, heart, and internal organs.
  • One simple thing you can do today is to weave meditation into your daily life.

About our Panelists

Ellie Shoja

Author of The 13th Planet and Your Heart Knows The Way, Founder of Peace Unleashed, TEDx speaker, and the co-host of the Unleash Your Peace podcast.

Being the daughter of an international con man, moving 25 times from the age of 9 to 11, and living in refugee camps in Germany resulted in Ellie suffering from severe nervous tics, anger and mood disorders, and suicidal ideation by the age of 12. What began as a personal healing journey turned into an 18-year deep dive into various modalities of psychology, philosophy, and spirituality. Ellie founded Peace Unleashed in order to share the inner peace strategies, tools, and processes that helped her become one of the most grounded and peaceful people living today. Ellie has been featured in various podcasts and publications including Entrepreneur, Elite Daily, Authority Magazine, and Thrive Global. Among her clients are A-list celebrities, influencers, and online personalities. She is a keynote speaker and has spoken at national and international conferences including Borderless Content Congress, The Great American Pitch Fest, and Digital Hollywood.

Neloo Naderi

Community builder, TEDx speaker, mental health advocate, CEO of Peace Unleashed, host of NelooTV, and co-host of the Unleash Your Peace podcast.

To escape religious persecution, Neloo and her family fled from Iran when she was just 5 years old. A family history of mental illness, poverty, violence, a broken home, and her own battle with depression and suicidal ideation set Neloo on a 15-year journey, seeking refuge in spirituality, philosophy, and various healing modalities. She co-founded Peace Unleashed with author Ellie Shoja to share practical tools, timeless wisdom, and strategies that helped Neloo transform her own life and become a beacon of light. Neloo has been featured on various publications and podcasts including Authority Magazine and Thrive Global. She is an inspirational speaker and trainer, working with local schools, national and global corporations. As the host of NelooTV, she interviews thought leaders, humanitarians, A-list celebrities, influencers, and online personalities to awaken viewers to their best selves and discover a deeper connection to the world around them.

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Virtual Nowruz Celebrations

Saturday, 20 March 2021, at 17:00 GMT (UK time)

This live cast from Borough of Barnet, home to the largest Iranian community in Greater London, will feature some of the best and brightest faces shaping culture and society in the UK’s capital.

Nowruz is an ancient festival marking the beginning of a new year on spring or the vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere. Incepted by Persian Empire’s King Jamshid some 3000 years ago, Nowruz now encompasses every corner of our planet and was recognised by the United Nations in 2010.

To mark this year’s Nowruz, a host of amazing individuals bring this festival to the comfort of your homes, including:

  • Councillor Caroline Stock, a scientist and the Honourable Mayoress of London Borough of Barnet.
  • Councillor Golnar Bokaei-Hoffman, an accomplished lawyer and a long-standing member of the Council for the London Borough of Barnet.
  • Member of the UK Parliament, Dr Matthew James Offord, member of the Environmental Audit Select Committee.
  • Leader of the Barnet Council, Councillor Daniel Thomas, representing Barnet on London-Wide Committees.
  • Roberto Weeden-Sanz, a member of the Council for the London Borough of Barnet and Council Lead for Policing.
  • Shaun Bailey, an activist focussed on young people, and London Mayoral Candidate.
  • Dori Dana-Haeri, a top wealth management expert and the Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees at Persia Educational Foundation.
  • Honey Rohani, award-winning soprano and an Olivier-nominee star of London’s West End.
  • Robert Barbaro, an Italo-Australian star of English National Opera and London’s West End double bill of Tosca and La boheme.
  • Deedeh Rohani, an award-winning child pianist and a student at North London Collegiate School.

And more…

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Hollywood’s Armin Amiri on Producing the First US Made Iranian Film

Wednesday, 17 March 2021, at 17:00 GMT (UK time)

Armin Amiri is an actor, producer, restauranteur and a former New York club owner known for its toughest rope policy and anonymous A-List patrons.

Armin was born in Tehran, Iran. At the age of 13, Armin and his family left for Istanbul and after a year, went to Vienna, Austria, to seek political asylum. After four years, Armin moved to San Francisco and studied at ACT conservatory before moving to New York to pursue his passion for acting.

His latest film, The Night, shot on location in Los Angeles, is receiving rare reviews. Amiri is the producer of The Night and will discuss this film as well as other upcoming projects during this rare Persia webinar.

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Iranian Women & Gender in the Iran-Iraq War

Monday, 8 March 2022, at 17:00 GMT (UK time)

A pioneering work documenting the impact of women by a male author, “Iranian Women & Gender in the Iran-Iraq War” is receiving rare reviews and makes a timely contribution to the elevation of discourse on the socioeconomic entitlements of women in Iranian society.


About our Panelists

Dr. Mateo Mohammad Farzaneh

Associate professor of history at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago

 He was born and raised in Ahvaz, Iran, until Iraq invaded in 1980. The war uprooted him and along with his family, he moved to their ancestral home in Isfahan. He immigrated to the United States in 1984 and completed his education in history in Southern California. His next two books are about Iranian women in sports as well as women and gender in the periphery. For more information on Professor Farzaneh and his publications, please click here

Azadeh Pourzand

Human rights researcher

a SOAS doctoral student and a human rights researcher educated at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. A copy of the book may be ordered directly from Syracuse University Press.

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Shaping a Better World through Education

Tuesday, 16 Febrary 2022, at 17:00 GMT (UK time)


About our Panelists

Sam Loni

Program Director at the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN)

A young leader and social entrepreneur, Sam is recognised as a young peace-builder by the Nobel Peace Prize Forum, one of Asia’s top under-30 social entrepreneurs by Forbes Magazine, and a 30-under-30 fellow by the NAEEA.  Sam began his professional journey while studying as an undergraduate at Monash University. Since 2015, Sam has served as a Program Director at the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) – a research and policy organisation, working under the auspices of the United Nations Secretary-General, Antònio Guterres. During his time at the SDSN, Sam has worked across a range of projects, including development finance, innovation systems, sustainable cities, and more recently, education for sustainable development. Sam was also the founder of SDSN Youth, one of the world’s biggest networks of young leaders dedicated to action on sustainable development, operating across 80 countries and 22 regional centres. During his time at SDSN, he pioneered the Global Schools Program and Local Pathways Fellowship.

Safoora Biglari

Director of Community at One Young World

Safoora is the Director of Community at One Young World. She is responsible for maintaining engagement with OYW’s key stakeholders and its community of over 12,000 Ambassadors who are affecting positive change across every sector, in every country in the world. Safoora and her team create and connect Ambassadors with growth opportunities, bespoke programmes, leadership development, media visibility and impact measurement. Notable 2020 programmes include the Covid-19 Young Leaders Fund which provided nearly $500,000 in support to young leaders on the frontlines of the pandemic response, and successful collaborations with the Obama Foundation, Hamilton Commission, and 20+ multinationals. Since 2019, the team have brought together over 15,000 young people in their programming. Collectively, OYW Ambassadors have impacted 26 million people to date.

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Reimagining Our World & Conquering Uncertainty

Wednesday, 15 January 2021, at 17:00 GMT (UK time)

FutureNEXT is unfolding before our eyes. The old and familiar normal is crumbling away steadily and the need for a sustainable, fair and effective new world system is becoming evident with growing urgency. In conceptualising and crafting this global, or new normal, at least three protagonists need to be reinvented; ie: the individual, the institutions and the society. In our reflections on these key components of the new normal, we offer ideas, insights and suggestions. More importantly, however, we invite all like-minded and like-hearted individuals to start a conversation, to mobilize thoughts, reflections and suggestions. Whilst no one has all the answers, FutureNEXT argues that collectively we, as human beings, have all that is needed to imagine and roll out a new normal infinitely superior to what we are used to.


About our Panelists

John Sanei

Global Keynote Speaker. Futures Strategist. 5x Bestselling Author

John Sanei comes alive at the intersection of human psychology and futurism and uses his truly unique perspective to discover elegant ways for his global audience to build the clarity and courage needed to approach the future with confidence. Not only is John Africa’s first Singularity University faculty member and a lecturer at Duke Corporate Education, but he is also an Associate Partner at The Copenhagen Institute of Future Studies. His rare ability to combine his fascination with emerging technology and its impact on society with a clear understanding of the way memories and stories influence our reality has seen him share the stage with several world-renowned thought leaders, including Yuval Harari, Nassim Taleb and Robin Sharma, amongst many others. 

Iraj Abedian

Founder and Executive Chairman of Pan-African Capital Holdings (Pty) Ltd, and the Chief Executive of Pan-African Investment and Research Services (Pty) Ltd

Dr. Abedian was a professor of economics at the University of Cape Town, before entering the business sector in 2000. He obtained his BA (Honours) and MA in Economics from the University of Cape Town (UCT). He received his Ph.D. in Economics from Simon Fraser University in Canada in 1993. He has served as a consultant on economic policy issues to public and private sector organizations in South Africa as well as internationally. From September to December 1999, Dr. Abedian was based at the IMF, Washington D.C., working on issues related to fiscal vulnerability assessment. In January 2000 he joined The Standard Bank Group at their head office in Johannesburg as Group Chief Economist. He was appointed Director and Group Economist in April 2000 and was a member of the Standard Bank Group EXCO. 

Andrew Curry

Director of The Futures Company

He is a leading member of the UK’s futurist community. As a consultant he has worked on dozens of scenarios and scanning projects for clients in the private, public and third sectors, using a wide variety of techniques. His clients have included the UK government’s Foresight Programme (see, for example, Intelligent Infrastructure Systems or Powering Our Lives)  and the UK Environment Agency, where a set of 50-year scenarios informed the Agency’s 50-year water strategy. He was also the lead author of the UK Cabinet Office report, Understanding Best Practice In Strategic Futures. Other scenarios projects include ones on economic development, regulation, and sustainability.

He is the Vice Chair of the Association of Professional Futurists. Before joining The Henley Centre in 1999 (which later became part of The Futures Company) he worked as a financial journalist for the BBC and Channel 4 News, as a television producer, and in interactive media.

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Persia provides educational support to Iranians worldwide who have the ambition to give back to their communities through the pursuit of public service. Established in 1997, Persia Educational Foundation is a non-governmental UK-registered charity, No. 1066546.


© Persia Educational Foundation. All rights reserved.  Charity No. 1066546