I am an art and architectural historian specializing in the medieval Islamic world. My research primarily focuses on Iranian architecture and urbanism within the context of intercultural dynamics that emerged following the Mongol Empire’s conquests in the thirteenth century.
My first book, Ilkhanid Capital Cities: Transcultural Interactions (Edinburgh University Press, 2025), explores the capital cities founded by the Mongol Ilkhans in Iran during the Ilkhanid period (1256–1335). Focusing on two major cities in the northwest of Iran, Ghazaniyya and Sultaniyya, this book examines how the court-sponsored urban projects in these two cities reflected the interactions between Perso-Islamic sedentary concepts and Mongolian nomadic traditions. Questioning earlier reductive scholarly framework that positioned the Mongols as uncultured barbarians, this study stresses the active role of the Mongol elite not only as agents, but also cultural donors in the Perso-Mongol cultural zeitgeist of late thirteenth- and early fourteenth-century Iran.
In addition to my art historical research, I have extensive experience in digital archaeology and virtual reconstruction of historical sites, employing remote sensing, spatial analysis, and 3D modeling as core methodologies. Over the past several years, I have employed aerial photography and satellite imagery to document, analyze, and digitally reconstruct historic urban landscapes across diverse heritage sites. These methods have allowed me to produce precise, research-driven visualizations that support both scholarly interpretation and heritage preservation.
Currently, I am an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Art History and Visual Studies at the University of Victoria. My ongoing research project, On the Periphery of the Ilkhanate: Provincial Architecture in Post-Conquest Iran, investigates cities in central and southern Iran that flourished under the patronage of local dynasties during the Ilkhanid period and in the decades following the dissolution of Ilkhanid rule in the 1330s. By examining the urban landscapes of these cities, this study aims to determine whether the provincial architectural and urban projects aligned with the imperial projects in the Ilkhanid capitals or if local governors developed their own formal and functional vocabulary as a means of domestic legitimation.
Before joining UVic, I held postdoctoral fellowships at the University of British Columbia (SSHRC), the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT, and the Khalili Research Centre at the University of Oxford. I received a PhD (2019) and MA (2014) in Art History from the University of Victoria, an MA in Architectural Restoration from the University of Tehran (2010), and a BA in Architectural Engineering from Imam Khomeini International University (2006).
My doctoral dissertation, A Dialogue between Friends and Foes: Transcultural Interactions in Ilkhanid Capital Cities (1256–1335), was awarded the 2020 Leonard Boyle Dissertation Prize by the Canadian Society of Medievalists.
Prior to my academic career in Canada, I worked as an architectural conservator on several historical sites in Tehran and elsewhere, collaborating with cultural institutions such as UNESCO.
My research has been published in peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Iran: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies, and Vernacular Architecture. I have also contributed to the edited volume Earthen Architecture in Muslim Cultures: Historical and Anthropological Perspectives.
I have taught a wide range of courses on Islamic art and architecture, artistic exchanges along the Silk Roads, the art and architecture of the Eastern Mediterranean, the global history of architecture, and thematic topics such as the destruction of art.