Prof Azadeh Fatehrad
Professor Azadeh Fatehrad is an artist and researcher whose interdisciplinary work bridges participatory art, migration studies, and public policy. She holds a PhD from the Royal College of Art, London, and is currently Professor of Art and Public Policy at Teesside University, where she directs the Inclusive and Empowered Places research centre within the Institute for Collective Place Leadership.
Her research and practice focus on socially engaged methodologies- spanning participatory art, trauma-informed research, and visual storytelling- to address themes of migration, integration, and social cohesion. She has led or co-led over 20 funded research projects across Europe and the Middle East, with support from the Nuffield Foundation, British Academy, Arts Council England, NordForsk, and UKRI. Major initiatives include Nature-Based Integration (exploring how environmental engagement fosters cohesion), and Beyond Words (a trauma-informed programme integrating sport and creative arts for displaced youth).
Her artistic and curatorial work has been exhibited internationally at institutions such as the Royal Academy of Arts, Somerset House, Weltkulturen Museum, Goethe-Institut, Moderna Museet, and the Sharjah Art Foundation. She is the author and editor of multiple books, including The Poetics and Politics of the Veil in Iran (Chicago, 2019) and Sohrab Shahid Saless: Exile, Displacement and the Stateless Moving Image (Edinburgh, 2020), with forthcoming monographs on integration, feminist print culture, and exile (Bloomsbury, 2026).
Alongside her research, she has contributed written evidence to the UK Parliament’s Women and Equalities Committee, the Civil Society Covenant Framework, and the Welsh Parliament among others, and has developed policy toolkits on integration and cultural regeneration in collaboration with the Home Office and Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
She is a trustee of Living Under One Sun and Compass Collective, and serves as Council Representative for the North East of England with Engage, the National Association for Gallery Education. Through her interdisciplinary projects, publications, and exhibitions, Fatehrad continues to explore new approaches to integration, cultural memory, and community resilience, bringing artistic practice into dialogue with social science and public policy to generate both critical insight and practical tools for inclusion.
For more information about her work, please visit her website: www.azadehfatehrad.com
Azadeh will be visiting the UNESCO Chair from 1 September 2025 until 30 August 2026.