Mohaddeseh Ziyachi

My background and research interests

My educational and research background is in the social sciences, with a specific interest in interdisciplinary approaches. I obtained my BA in social sciences and my MA in sociology at Allameh Tabataba’i University, in Iran. My Masters dissertation was concerned with the problem of gender and the city, focusing on the concept of “the women-friendly city”. Being interested in gender issues as well as interdisciplinary studies, I completed my PhD at the Institute of Cognition and Culture at the Queen’s University of Belfast, UK. My PhD thesis investigated “the problem of motherhood” from a cognitive anthropological, evolutionary, and historical perspective.

My current research project is focused on immigration and mental health. I also collaborate with Professor Brian Castellani and Professor Charlotte Clarke on the InSPIRE and SPHR projects and the GO programme that are concerned with brain health and dementia from an interdisciplinary approach.

Summary of my research project 

In my research project, I aim to demonstrate that the mental health care system in the UK is problematic due to its individualised, biomedical, and power-based approaches. I argue that this status is more controversial and complicated for refugees and asylum-seekers who experience a variety of pressures, tensions, and deprivations. By reflecting on immigrants’ experiences, my participant observations in charity organisations, and interviewing professionals and stakeholders, I will characterise problematic aspects of this system and provide recommendations for the grass-root intervention

`Areas of interests

• Cognitive and psychological anthropology
• Interdisciplinary studies
• Social equality and justice
• Gender Studies
• Urban Studies