Shahram Akbarzadeh is Research Professor in Middle East and Central Asian Politics at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation (Deakin University), and convenor of the Middle East Studies Forum: www.mesf.org.auHe held a prestigious Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (2012-2016) on the Role of Islam in Iran’s Foreign Policy-making. His research and publications cover regional politics in the Middle East, Iranian politics and Islam in Australia.