My research concerns modern Iran between empire and state: how foreign influence, military institutions and political centralization shaped Iran from the late Qajar period to the rise of the Pahlavi dynasty, and how Iran has connected with China and the wider world.
Doctoral dissertation, in progress
An institutionalist history of the Iranian Cossack Brigade, from its creation with Russian officers in 1879 to the 1921 coup. The project asks how an instrument of Russian imperial influence became a vehicle of centralization and state-building in Iran.
Ongoing research area
Qajar-era political institutions, military reform and the transition to the Pahlavi state, examined through institutional analysis.
Ongoing research area; working paper in preparation
The evolution and characteristics of Iran's relations with the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, with attention to imperial rivalry and its institutional legacies.
Ongoing research area; working paper in preparation
Historical exchange between Iran and China, including a study of the origins of the Iranian qanat and its implications for Silk Road studies.