Mahnaz Shirali

Dr. Mahnaz Shirali is an Iranian author and political sociologist. She graduated in architecture engineering from faculty of fine arts of Tehran University in 1992. She moved to France in 1994 where she obtained her PhD in sociology from School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris in 2000. Her PhD thesis was about crisis in youth Iranian generation.

She was then appointed as a lecturer of the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po) as political sociologist and an expert on Iran, as well as director of studies at the Catholic University of Paris.

She, as a writer and expert on Iran, has collaborated with various Persian and French-speaking media around the world such as Radio France Internationale., BBC, Voice of America, Le Point, Le Monde, Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS), Arte, TV5Monde, France 24, Vatican Radio, Radio France Culture, Iran International, Liberté Algeria, France TV, RT France and the Huffington Post

She has authored several books in French and English on the sociological, political, religious and historical aspects of Iran. Among them are The Mystery of Contemporary Iran and La jeunesse iranienne: une génération en crise.

Mahnaz Shirali is a human rights and Iranian women's rights activist and has lectured at various congresses in the field.