Azadeh Pourzand

Azadeh Pourzand is a human-rights and policy specialist with over 15 years of international experience at the intersection of research, advocacy, and program implementation. She is skilled in qualitative research, open-source documentation, coalition-building, and strategic portfolio management. 

Azadeh has a demonstrated record of translating complex evidence into actionable insights for UN bodies, governments, NGOs, and donors, and of leading multi-country initiatives advancing media freedom, gender equality, and civic participation. She has represented organizations at global policy and media forums including the UN Human Rights Council, the Nobel Women’s Initiative, the Atlantic Council, and Front Line Defenders, and her commentary has appeared on CNN, BBC, and France 24. She is currently on the International Advisory Board of Nyenrode University. 

She is currently completing a PhD in Global Media and Communications at SOAS University of London, where her work bridges academic research with applied advocacy to inform rights-based policy and governance. She is a graduate of Harvard Kennedy School of Government (HKS) with a Master in Public Policy (MPP), a graduate of Nyenrode Universiteit with a Master in Business Administration (MBA) focused on entrepreneurship, and a graduate of Oberlin College with an honors bachelor's degree in Comparative Literature. Her research and writing focus on human rights in Iran, with an emphasis on freedom of expression, rule of law, minority rights, and women's empowerment. 

Having previously served as the editor-in-chief of Women's Policy Journal of Harvard, Azadeh has participated in numerous panels and presented on topics related to human rights held by institutions such as the Nobel Peace Center, Chatham House, the Middle East Institute and Front Line Defenders. A selected member of BMW Foundation Responsible Leaders Network, Azadeh has published two co-authored book chapters on women's rights and rule of law in Iran, published by Routledge and Indiana University Press.

Azadeh’s research lies at the intersection of media, gender, and socio-political transformation in contemporary Iran and the broader Middle East. A former Editor-in-Chief of the Women’s Policy Journal of Harvard, she has co-authored three book chapters on women’s rights, the rule of law, and freedom of expression in the context of arts and culture in Iran, published by Routledge, Indiana University Press, and Cambridge University Press. Her broader scholarly interests include media practices and activism, exilic and diasporic communities, liminality, and the politics of marginalization and representation.