Mehdi Sanaei

Education

• Candidate of Political Science (2001, thesis topic: “Socio-political relations of Iran and Central Asia”
• Master in International Relations from Tehran University (1995)
• Bachelor of Political Science from Tehran University (1992)
• Fluent in Arabic, English and Russian

University and academic activities

• Advisor to the Rector of Tehran University for Russia and Eurasia since 2020
• Receiving medal from the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies for support and cooperation in expanding Iranian research in Russia (2019).
• Editor in chief and member of editorial board of the World Studies Quarterly, University of Tehran in 2011–2017.
• Head of the Department of Russian Studies, Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran in 2007–2013.
• Distance Professor of faculty of global political and global economy HSE
• Member of advisory board of the Journal «Russia in global affairs»
• Presenting articles in scientific and international conferences in France, Poland, China, Russia, USA, Canada and other countries

Executive and administrative activities

• Senior Adviser to the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2019
• Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Russian Federation in 2013–2019
• Member of the eighth and ninth convocations of Parliament of Iran in 2008-2013.
• Head of the Institute of Culture of the Regional Organization for Economic Cooperation (2005–2006).
• Director General of the IRAS Research Center (Study of Russia, Central Asia and the Caucasus) since 2004.